Hitachiin: An OHSHC Spin-Off
by ArgentumAurora
Summary: Set after the final OHSHC anime episode, with Tamaki and Haruhi now together, Hikaru and Kaoru can only watch as their shared crush grows closer to the king of Host Club. But, in the wake of this, could new romantic feelings develop? For so long, the twins' romance has been merely an act, but is it possible it could become something more?
1. Chapter 1: Enter, Hikaru and Kaoru!

It was just another Tuesday at the elite Ouran Private Academy. A playground for the fabulously wealthy and famous, Ouran Private Academy was a particularly rigorous school for the sons and daughters of the most well-known families around. But for many of Ouran's students, the extracurricular activities were the school's chief draw. To be quite specific, the Ouran Host Club.

Having just been released from their final class, the Hitachiin twins were walking together toward Music Room #3, the location of the infamous Ouran Host Club, where they would spend their afternoon working. Or, as the boss would have it, doing their best to ignore Tamaki's and Haruhi's displays of affection. Although their relief to have Tamaki back with the Host Club for good overshadowed most of the pain, it still stung to see Tamaki get the girl. That was true for both the twins and Kyoya, who had all seen her as a romantic interest.

Entering through the doors of Music Room #3, the twins found the room already occupied by the other host club members. Honey was sitting near a window eating a slice of cake (big surprise there) with Usa-chan seated in his lap. Mori sat across from Honey, listening to something the smaller boy was saying with a stoic expression.

Tamaki was explaining something to Haruhi in the center of the room, complete with lots of arm waving, shouting, jumping around, and extreme facial expressions. Kyoya sat closest to the door, typing away on his laptop with his notebook lying nearby. From the way the older boy glanced up with increasing frequency, he was attempting to conceal the fact that he couldn't stop watching Haruhi and Tamaki.

"Watcha working on, Kyoya?" The twins asked in unison, leaning over their friend's shoulders to get a better look at the computer screen. As best they could tell, it was all numbers and values; more accounting work. Kyoya readjusted his glasses on his nose. "Just calculating some expenses. I'm expecting another of Tamaki's grand schemes any day now, so our funding must be prepared."

"Aha," The twins replied, their tones completely lacking enthusiasm. Together, they walked over to their preferred couch and sat down.

"There's really not much to do here," Kaoru noticed, looking around the salon. As usual, the scent of rose petals lingered in the air.

"You're right. Not until our clients arrive, at least," Hikaru finished, also studying their surroundings. _And then it's back to putting on a show for them,_ Hikaru thought, glancing quickly at his brother.

Kaoru picked up one of the teacups from the table across from the couch and examined it in detail. "How many are we supposed to have today, do you know?"

"Around fifteen, I believe," the older twin replied.

"Hikaru, Kaoru, you didn't come say hello." Turning around, the Hitachiin brothers found themselves staring at Haruhi Fujioka, the club's only girl host (although for the sake of her debt, she cross-dressed. Not that her debt existed anymore.) and the former crush of both twins.

"We're sorry Haruhi," Kaoru apologized. Hikaru finished his brother's thought with, "You simply looked a little busy there with Tamaki." Haruhi blushed lightly. Teasing the petite brunette never got boring.

"You're my friends, you're always welcome to say hello." Haruhi hadn't meant to injure the twins' feelings, but hearing her call them "friends" still stung. Just a little bit. She went on, "Besides, I would've appreciated an interruption. Tamaki was trying to convince me of the importance of cosplaying as popular anime characters next week."

Hikaru exploded into laughter as Kaoru asked, completely deadpan, "Oh really? Which show?"

"He can't make up his mind," Haruhi said with a knowing smile.

"The Host Club will be open for business in two minutes. Take up your positions, men!" Kyoya announced. His words stirred everyone into motion. The group scrambled to arrange themselves presentably in clear sight of the doorway, where their customers would soon be entering the salon. One minute until opening. The rose petals were in place. The Host Club was set to open with its usual roses, light, and of course, its boys.

The doors to Music Room #3 opened slowly, spilling rose petals, light, and a gentle breeze into the hallway where they swirled around the waiting ladies. Just beyond the petals and glamour, the Ouran Host Club awaited their guests, arranged as if posing for a photo. "Welcome!"

"So, ladies, how was your day today?" Hikaru asked as the twins sat down on a couch with their first customers. Kaoru settled himself beside his brother and smiled at the girls. There were three of them, all customers who came on a semi-regular basis.

"Oh, it was lovely. It's-It's better now that we're with you, though," one of the girls replied, looking down a smidge to conceal a blush. The twins smiled.

"I'm so glad!" Kaoru exclaimed, his face lit up with joy. In a classic Hitachiin act of "brotherly love," Kaoru reached for the teapot to serve their guests the tea they'd been promised, only to pull his hand back with a startled cry of pain as the steaming pot was too hot, and burned his fingers.

"Kaoru!" Hikaru cried, "Let me see your hand."

Kaoru, who had been gingerly inspecting his injuries, met Hikaru's eyes almost mournfully, looking out from beneath locks of auburn hair. "No brother, don't trouble yourself. It's just a small burn, it doesn't hurt much."

"Nonsense, baka! Let me see it!" Hikaru demanded, holding out a hand toward his brother. Kaoru curled his burnt fingers into a loose fist and pulled it against his chest.

When Kaoru did not respond, Hikaru's worried expression softened. "Kaoru…" He'd said his brother's name so softly, so gently, that the younger twin simply couldn't resist reaching out to reassure Hikaru. Of course, the elder Hitachiin only used this as an opportunity to grab hold of his brother's hand, bringing the reddened fingers to his lips, and tenderly kissing Kaoru's burns.

Their customers squealed with emotion, but the show wasn't over yet. _Same old games, week after week. I wonder if they can see that we're both broken inside, longing for the affections of one whom we cannot have._ Kaoru's face reddened as his brother warned, "You must be more careful, Kaoru. I cannot bear to see you in pain. Especially if you insist on being so stubborn about letting me ease your pain."

"Hikaru," Kaoru croaked, his voice barely above a whisper, "I'm sorry…"

"Although, I will admit, your stubbornness can be quite endearing. For example, when we are alone…" Hikaru placed a finger under his brother's chin, using it to guide the younger twin's gaze into his eyes as he leaned toward Kaoru. Startled, Kaoru fell back on the couch, only managing to catch himself with one elbow. Hikaru was not discouraged by this, though, and continued to lean in until their faces were close enough to feel the other's warm breath on their skin.

"H-Hikaru!" Kaoru complained, his face turning an even deeper shade of red. Hikaru merely chuckled. Their customers, meanwhile, were on the verge of getting nosebleeds.

 _It's always been the same tricks for us. Going through the same motions, week after week. We put on a good show, but what does this say about our relationship? My brother means the world to me, but the world thinks we are lovers. If he were to love me that way, would I be able to love him back? Is it possible that, somehow, someway, we could have feelings, deeper ones, for one another? He is my brother, but could he ever be my lover, too?_


	2. Chapter 2: Two of a Kind

Host Club closed for the afternoon at the same time as always, 4:30. The Hitachiin twins had already waved goodbye to their friends, and now made their way through the quiet, empty corridors of the Ouran High School Building. It was strange to see their school, which was usually alive with chatter and a constant flow of other students, so barren and lifeless. Only the cherry blossom trees dancing in the late afternoon breeze gave the two boys company.

At the front gate of the Ouran campus, a private car and chauffer awaited the twins' arrival. Doors were opened for them, the boys sliding inside silently. In fact, they'd exchanged few words since leaving the Music Room #3. Something had drained the twin devils' usual abundance of energy, dulling them both into an uncharacteristic silence.

 _What's wrong with the two of us?_ Kaoru wondered, studying his brother as closely as he could. Though the two were mirror images of one another, if anyone were going to be able to spot something amiss with Hikaru, it would be his brother. Or perhaps Haruhi. _Haruhi…_

Now that he set his mind to it, the younger twin wondered if it was the petite brunette who was causing the Hitachiin twins to lapse into such solemnity. Heartbreak, or even heart sore, was not an emotional stage either of the boys would be likely to recognize. Especially for them both to fall so hard for the same girl… It was truly peculiar.

"Hikaru, is something bothering you?" Kaoru asked tentatively as the twins hiked up the front steps of the Hitachiin family manor. The elder twin shifted his hands in his pockets. _How does Kaoru always know exactly how I'm feeling?_

"Is it Haruhi?" _Damn you, Kaoru._ Hikaru's only response to the question was a long stare, right into his brother's eyes.

Kaoru held his brother's gaze, searching those identical amber eyes for hints. Given enough time, Kaoru never failed to discern what was on his twin's mind. Hikaru, quite on the contrary, was preoccupied with wondering how his brother could see through him so easily. He'd certainly never been capable of understanding Kaoru; at least, not as in depth as the latter could understand him.

"Tamaki will never have class with her," Kaoru eventually said, leading the way through the mansion's front doors. It was the only thing he could think of to say that wouldn't push both twins further into their despair. Hikaru followed his brother inside after a moment's hesitation, turning Kaoru's words over and over in his head.

They could always dangle age over Tamaki. The Host Club King could never change that. But what use was forging jealousy? They had tried that before, and while they had won a few of the preliminary rounds, (at least, that's how they saw things) it was Tamaki who had taken the endgame.

With a wry smile, Hikaru realized Tamaki's prediction had come to fruition: he and Haruhi were the love interests, while the Hitachiins and the others were just supporting cast. Homosexual supporting cast, at that. Hikaru did not consider himself homosexual. That would possibly involve being romantically interested in his brother. It made a good show for the ladies, but Hikaru had never truly considered the possibility of the Hitachiin "Twincest" act being anything more than, well, an act.

Of course, there was always Kyoya, although the Shadow King was terrifying in his own way. As for Mori and Honey, Hikaru just couldn't view them in that way. _Did that mean he could see Kaoru in that light, as a romantic interest?_ Hikaru snuck a glance toward his little brother as they climbed the stairs to their bedroom in unison.

Kaoru's thoughts were even less focused, though they were certainly more light-hearted than those of his brother. He had to fix this _bother_ that Haruhi had instilled in the twins. Kaoru knew that Haruhi had never meant to pain the two of them, but certainly by describing any of the situation to her, the girl would immediately try to compensate for her actions, and they couldn't have that. If Haruhi had found herself a happy ending, who were they to disrupt that?

But, nonetheless, Kaoru could not stand to see Hikaru go on like this. The melancholy attitude needed to do no more than appear for Kaoru to immediately yearn to remove it, to put a smile back on his twin's face. Hikaru was often too ignorant to take care of his own emotions, so it was up to the younger twin to make sure his brother stayed emotionally healthy.

Having reached their shared bedroom, the twins stepped inside, and shut the door behind them. It closed with a soft click as if saluting the end of the school day. While Hikaru seated himself on the edge of the bed, frowning at his hands as if disappointed in something they'd done, Kaoru removed the purple jacket of his school uniform, absentmindedly beginning the task of changing into an attire more befitting their setting.

As the younger twin changed, Hikaru eyed his brother thoughtfully; Kaoru, thankfully, was too lost in thought to take notice. _Our bodies are entirely the same,_ Hikaru thought. The elder Hitachiin seemed to have utterly lost himself in the grand pondering that sometimes results from realizing that there is another out there who is wholly and entirely one's equal.

Kaoru, in the meantime, had been struck with inspiration. When he had completed the process of dressing himself in more casual clothing, the younger Hitachiin sat beside his older brother on their bed. Hikaru, still lost in thought, (and visibly so) barely registered the other's presence.

"Hikaru." Kaoru laid a hand gently on his brother's forearm. Usually when something upset Hikaru, he would go off like a bomb, storming about the room, sometimes cussing like a sailor, other times hurling insults at his brother, (Kaoru knew better than to take him seriously in these times) and when he had exhausted all other options, just fuming silently. Today was different. Whether that was for better or for worse remained to be seen.

"Do you know any girls in our grade other than Haruhi?" Hikaru was caught completely off guard by this question. He straightened up and stared at Kaoru. Was he being serious?

"Well…" Now that Hikaru was trying to think of a girl other than Haruhi, he found he could not remember a single name. That was if he excluded the connections made in Host Club.

"I know Yuna, and Akari, and Nanami." All girls the twins had hosted before.

"And what do you think of them?" Kaoru asked. _I don't understand what he wants me to say,_ Hikaru thought desperately.

"They're kind and beautiful girls, all of them," Hikaru suggested, though Kaoru either didn't notice the lack of certainty behind his brother's words, or simply overlooked the fact. Regardless, the younger Hitachiin smiled, indicating Hikaru had given him the answer he was looking for.

When Kaoru said nothing in reply, Hikaru took it as the end of their conversation. The elder Hitachiin stood up, walked to their wardrobe, and changed into casual clothes. Kaoru kept his eyes focused on the edge of the mattress, but his mind was far away, utilizing this new information to craft a plan to be carried out tomorrow at school. How he would be able to carry this out without Hikaru realizing his intentions, he did not know. There was only hoping and waiting.


	3. Chapter 3: Operation Romansu!

Wednesday morning dawned cool and foggy. Dressed in their Ouran uniforms, the Hitachiin twins stepped out of their family's mansion and into the car which was waiting to escort them to school. The drive, which would've felt long and dreary if yesterday's silence had continued into today, was made shorter by the twins' persistent banter throughout the journey.

"Kaoru, did you remember to brush your hair?" Hikaru scolded. "Of course! Is it still a mess?" Kaoru raked a few fingers through his auburn hair, frantically trying to straighten it out. "Perhaps next time I want you to have neat hair, I should be a bit gentler," Hikaru growled, leaning in so that the twins' faces were only centimeters apart.

Kaoru shrank back into the seat just a fraction, blushing profusely. Hikaru never seemed to stop teasing his little brother. Whether the Host Club was in session or not, the innuendos never ended. "H-Hikaru!" The younger boy protested.

Hikaru laughed and retreated to his initial seat. He couldn't help picking on his brother all the time; Kaoru blushed so easily that it hardly took much effort on the elder Hitachiin's part to initiate a rosy tint to his twin's cheeks. Besides, it kept both of their skills sharp for the Host Club.

The car idled beside the Ouran campus' main entrance, allowing the two boys to emerge from its air-conditioned interior. All around them, students of all ages walked into Ouran Private Academy, talking and laughing in small groups. The Hitachiin twins, as usual, walked by themselves. They were a private island in a sea of growing nations.

When they reached the high school building, Kaoru began to look around for any of the girls his brother had mentioned yesterday. He needed to cheer up his brother, and right now, Kaoru deemed his best option to be locating his brother a suitable date. It would need to be someone truly extraordinary in order to get Hikaru's mind off of Haruhi. Lucky for them, Ouran had plenty of extraordinary students. After all, this was a school for well-bred children, and good breeding frequently led one to good connections, which essentially translated to highly-coveted positions in highly-coveted companies.

Soon, the younger twin spotted Akari Yamamoto, the daughter of a well-known surgeon. "Hey, Akari-san!" Kaoru grabbed his twin's hand and dragged him along, running toward Akari. Akari looked up at the twins as they stopped in front of her. Hikaru looked slightly cross and rumpled, while Kaoru appeared breathlessly happy.

"Ohayo, Kaoru-san, Hikaru-san!" Akari smiled at the twins. It was rare for Host Club members to directly seek out a customer outside of club hours, and other students had already begun to stare. _Kaoru looks so handsome today! I wonder what he's come to tell me,_ Akari wondered, dreamily imagining a multitude of situations in which the younger Hitachiin brother swept her off her feet and escorted her on a wonderful date.

"What did you think of the poem we read in class yesterday?" Kaoru asked, his eyes shining and alert. This wouldn't be the first time the boy had set up a date for his brother.

Akari-san bashfully gazed at the toes of her shoes. "I thought it was lovely."

Hikaru studied Akari's face. It was true, she was a beautiful, kind, and smart young lady, quite similar to Haruhi. But she would never have the brunette's spark and willingness to stick up for her opinion, even when it wasn't the most popular idea. _And, she has the nerve to flirt with Kaoru._

"It was about a man who had lost his lover, right?" Hikaru interrupted bluntly. Both Kaoru and Akari blinked at him in surprise. _He must not realize that I'm trying to help him out here…_

"That's right." Kaoru shot Akari an apologetic glance on behalf of his brother.

"Tragic love is beautiful, isn't it? Although, I imagine the two of you must know better than most people, huh?" Akari giggled, her raven black curls bouncing.

 _How does she know what we're going through?_ The Hitachiin twins were caught equally off-guard, Kaoru even going so far as to step back in surprise. It seemed they had both forgotten their forbidden brotherly love act, at least for the time being. Kaoru opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Hikaru.

"Indeed. It is hard to find much alone time with my brother. We take advantage of whatever we can get," Hikaru admitted, slinging an arm around his twin's shoulders. _I was only trying to help you, Hikaru,_ Kaoru thought sadly as they exchanged goodbyes with Akari. The bell rang, sending the two boys rushing off to homeroom.

At lunch, Kaoru tried again. He finished his serving of pork tonkatsu, the younger Hitachiin cleared his table and left the lunchroom with a quick "I'll be right back," to his brother. Nothing seemed amiss to Kaoru as he made his way out, but he was unaware of the critical eye with which his brother was watching him.

It was unlike Kaoru to simply get up and leave, even if he promised to come right back. _Perhaps something's bothering him, or he needs to ask another student a question,_ Hikaru reasoned with himself. _Still, he'd usually tell me about whatever's going on._

Yuna Misaka was exactly where Kaoru expected to find her: sitting on a bench under one of the campus' many cherry blossom trees, gazing thoughtfully at the clock tower. Clearing his throat as not to startle the girl, Kaoru seated himself on a bench across from her. Yuna brought her attention toward her visitor, brushing a strand of platinum blonde hair out of her face as she did so.

"What brings you here, Kaoru-san?" The girl asked quietly. Her small, delicate hands fiddled with the yellow dress she wore.

"Well, I wanted to know what you thought of my brother, Hikaru," Kaoru admitted, rubbing his hair sheepishly. _Damn, Hikaru's really going to tease me about my hair when I get back. I don't know why he always makes such a fuss about it,_ Kaoru thought.

Yuna hesitated, mildly surprised by the younger Hitachiin boy's peculiar request. "Hikaru-san? He's a little intimidating, mostly because he's got such a dominant personality. I'm sure you know that, though. Even though he's always teasing you, he seems nice, like he really cares about you very much."

Kaoru repressed a sigh of defeat. Two options down, only one left available. He could tell Yuna wasn't romantically interested in Hikaru, at least not for herself. She, like the rest of Ouran Academy, was convinced that the Hitachiin twins were actually lovers.

"Yes, that sounds about right. Thank you." Kaoru stood up and walked back to the lunch room, his hands shoved deep into his pockets from frustration. Was this whole school really so easily fooled by the twins' act? Was there still no one who saw them as separate people?

 _Kaoru has been acting stranger and stranger today. I wonder if something really is upsetting him._ Hikaru stood up from his seat as the bell rang to signal the end of the school day. Host Club would begin in not too long now. Outside, the clock tower chimed two-thirty.

No sooner had the twins left their classroom behind than Kaoru spotted someone up ahead in the halls. "I'll be right back, Hikaru!" Kaoru promised before weaving hurriedly through the crowd of students to catch up to a girl in a yellow Ouran dress with light brown hair which fell straight down her back in a long, loose braid.

 _What has gotten into him today?_ Hikaru wondered, stopping to gaze helplessly after his twin. Kaoru, in the meantime, had just caught up to Nanami Akiyama in the courtyard under the clock tower. "Nanami-san!"

"Kaoru-san! Is everything alright?" Nanami asked, her brows furrowing in worry as she observed the younger twin. _I wonder why he's not at the Host Club already. Still, it's nice to talk to him alone,_ Nanami thought happily.

"Yes! But I have a favor to ask you." Hikaru, who had followed his brother out of the high school building and into the courtyard, (he now waited out of sight behind the support for an arch) arrived just in time to hear these words.

"Of course Kaoru-san, what can I help you with? Are you having trouble with your math again?" Nanami, whose father worked in an important engineering position and had numerous math degrees to his name, was an ideal candidate to tutor Kaoru in one of his toughest subjects.

Kaoru, who was beginning to feel a little disheartened for the third time today, worked up the courage to finally ask, "Would you perhaps be willing to… go out with him, on a date, sometime?"

Hikaru felt a flame of anger spark up in his chest. What did Kaoru think he was doing? He couldn't just go around asking girls on dates for his brother! Hikaru was tempted to march out there and give Kaoru a piece of his mind this very instant, but he also wanted to hear what Nanami's answer would be. But after that… After that he could knock some sense into his little brother.

 _Kaoru wants me… to go on a date with Hikaru?_ "I'm sorry, Kaoru. I just don't see your brother that way. Besides, aren't the two of you together?" If there was trouble between the twins, Nanami wondered who she would go to for Host Club this afternoon.

Nanami's rejection, even though it wasn't quite his, was the last straw for Kaoru. "That's alright. Yes, I can't imagine how upset Hikaru would be if he heard this, but… I just want him to be happy. He's seemed down lately, and I was hoping you would be able to cheer him up."

"Well, why don't you talk to him, Kaoru? I've never seen Hikaru happier than when the two of you are together." Nanami left Kaoru with these final words of insight, then walked back into the high school building.

 _Boss is gonna kill me. I could've ruined our whole act there…_ Kaoru clenched his hands into fists. His eyes were squeezed shut, but he refused to let a single tear drop. _How could I have been so stupid?_

"Kaoru?"


	4. Chapter 4: Garden Act

_Hikaru?_ Kaoru's head snapped toward the source of his name. Hikaru stood in the shade of a covered walkway, staring at his brother. His expression was unreadable. However, Hikaru only needed one glimpse of Kaoru's face before he was rushing forward, wrapping his brother in his arms, murmuring soft words of comfort.

The older Hitachiin led his brother into one of Ouran's gardens and sat him down on a bench. Kaoru had his head buried in his brother's shoulder. No tears came. It was more than enough to have the support of his brother, his twin, his mirror image. The two sat together, Kaoru leaning on his brother and Hikaru rubbing Kaoru's back soothingly, for quite some time.

"I'm sorry, Hikaru," Kaoru said shakily. Hikaru looked at his little brother. The way Kaoru bit his trembling lip in an effort to mask his internal uncertainty… It was adorable.

"Your intentions were good, Kaoru," Hikaru reassured the younger boy. When Kaoru did not answer, Hikaru took hold of his brother's chin and directed his twin's eyes into his own. Kaoru's cheeks tinted pink at their close proximity.

"Kaoru, I'm not mad at you. Please, I forgive you. Won't you forgive yourself too?" Hikaru's amber eyes were so strikingly serious, the only thing Kaoru could do was nod. "But Kaoru, tell me… Why did you do that?"

The younger Hitachiin swallowed hard, then spoke, "You seemed so down yesterday, I couldn't bear to see you so upset. I thought maybe if you had someone to cheer you up, then maybe you wouldn't be so depressed."

Hikaru sighed. "Kaoru, you're an idiot."

The younger twin's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"You're an idiot. Think about that advice Nanami gave you a little while ago."

Kaoru thought hard about his big brother's clue, trying to decipher what he could be getting at. Nanami suggested he talk to Hikaru… Wasn't he doing that now? How did this help him? "I don't understand, Hikaru."

The older Hitachiin brought his forehead forward to rest it against Kaoru's temples. "Kaoru, why would I need anyone else to cheer me up when I have you?"

 _Surely he doesn't really mean that,_ Kaoru thought, bewildered. _But he said it so seriously… Could this be what Nanami meant? That I needed to come to my brother with this, and that would make things alright? Damn you, Hikaru, why must you be so confusing?_

"H-Hikaru…" Kaoru found himself unable to finish his sentence. Silence took over their conversation.

A few minutes later, Hikaru spoke up. "Kaoru?" The younger boy looked up.

"Promise me you won't try something like that again?" Hikaru's mournful gaze found that of his brother's. Subconsciously, Hikaru reached out and traced the curve of Kaoru's cheek with one hand.

Kaoru swallowed, his cheeks burning. "I promise."

"Good. If I find you emotionally injuring yourself in order to make me happy ever again, I might have to," Hikaru leaned in closer, within nibbling distance of Kaoru's ears, and finished in a tone which sent shivers racing up and down his baby brother's spine, "punish you."

 _He never stops, does he?_ Kaoru knew his face must've been brighter than his hair. Hikaru's breath was warm and ticklish on his ear. The younger twin's breathing was shaky. He'd never felt so unsettled in all his life, which was strange. In having endured years and years of his older sibling's implicative teasing, nothing had bothered him quite as much as this moment here. It was a nice kind of bothered.

The clock tower struck three-thirty. Had they really been out here for an entire hour? The Hitachiin twins had a moment of simultaneous panic. "We're half an hour late for Host Club! KYOYA'S GOING TO KILL US!"

Sprinting to Music Room #3 was no easy feat in long, expensive pants and dress shoes. Plus, there were multiple flights of stairs and the complicated labyrinth of hallways to contend with, meaning an additional ten minutes had passed by the time the identical gingers burst through the doors.

The entire Host Club stopped and fell startlingly silent when the twins arrived. Tamaki and Haruhi turned around in their position on the couch to look at them. Kyoya stopped typing and stared at them. Mori looked slightly surprised. Honey paused, a bite of cake halfway to his mouth. Heck, even the Usa-chan seemed to have turned its attention toward the Host Club's Mischievous types. And that's not to mention the multitude of girls paying rapt attention to the twins.

"What?" Kaoru asked as Hikaru wondered aloud, "Did we do something?"

"'Something' would be one word for it," Kyoya said mysteriously, giving his signature smirk before returning to his computer. A light shade of red spread across both of the brothers' cheeks as they abruptly realized why everyone was staring. That little scenario on the bench had probably been more intimate than most of their club performances. And it was just now that the twins realized they'd been in full view of the Music Room #3's windows the entire time.

 _I wonder if he knew, and was just acting…_ The Host Club sprang back into action, all the Hosts going about their normal activities. Hikaru and Kaoru walked over to their usual couch and sat down. Three girls were already waiting for them. Naturally, it was Nanami, Akari, and Yuna.

"Oh-my-gosh that was so adorable!" "So is that what you were planning, Kaoru?" "You're such tricksters!" "Wow, you two really love each other!" "Why didn't you do that in the club room?" "Hikaru, how are you going to punish Kaoru?"

The twins were confronted with so many questions at once, it was impossible to remember it all. Kyoya suddenly appeared behind the twins, and whispered so that the girls wouldn't hear, "You're very behind schedule today, boys. But you're lucky I was able to tap into a nearby microphone and broadcast the conversation in here. You've made nearly twice as much profit as usual. Keep up the good work."

"Uh, would you guys mind repeating the questions one at a time? Sorry," Kaoru said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. The younger twin was distracted with reliving the memory of Hikaru's warm breath on his ear and his seductive voice promising to punish Kaoru if he ever dared to pull a stunt like that again.

"Is that why you were asking about Hikaru today, Kaoru?" Akari asked, taking a dainty sip from a steaming teacup. This week they'd gotten a new shipment. Each host had gotten cream tea sets personalized with a repeating motif of their respectively colored roses.

Hikaru answered for his brother. "Yes. Poor Kaoru, he sometimes gets so insecure about himself. You'd think he'd know by now that he will always have my love."

"Hikaru!" Kaoru protested, blushing again. Despite the fact that they were putting on their show again, Kaoru thought perhaps he'd noticed a hint of sincerity in his brother's response. _It's Hikaru, baka! When is your brother ever sincere?_

 _Damn, he's too cute when he blushes,_ Hikaru thought. "Kaoru, we've been over this. You know I just can't help myself when you start blushing!"

"AAH! So that's why they did it in the garden!" The girls screamed in unison. They had huddled together, hands clutched to their chests in an effort to internalize the moe. Haruhi, who was walking by at the time, thought to herself, _Jeez, think you could rephrase that a bit?_

"But Hikaru, there's so many people! You're embarrassing me!" Kaoru stammered, shrinking under his brother's heavy gaze.

Hikaru grabbed Kaoru's chin, pulling his baby brother's face toward his own. "Nothing could stop me, Kaoru. I'm sure I could manage to… distract you."

The observing girls burst into nosebleeds, clutching their faces and screaming with elation. Kaoru opened his mouth to protest once more, but found he could say nothing. The Hitachiins' breath mingled with one another's. When they had given their customers sufficient time to recover their composure, the pair sat up, ready to answer more questions. A glance at the clock showed them their next customers would be arriving in a few minutes.

"So, Hikaru… How are you going to punish Kaoru?" Yuna asked shyly, hiding her face behind a few locks of platinum blonde hair. Kaoru felt heat rising to his cheeks. _Dammit, not again…_

Hikaru chuckled. The elder Hitachiin was wearing his "I'm planning something" face, which was always a dangerous situation. "Well, that would require Kaoru to be naughty again. I'm sure he wouldn't do that." Hikaru shot a pointed look at his younger twin.

"But, if it were to happen again…" Hikaru's smile would've encouraged the devil himself to take cover. Kaoru shivered involuntarily. Before his mind could imagine too many dark possibilities, Hikaru had pushed Kaoru lightly onto his back. The younger twin found himself pinned beneath his brother, staring into golden eyes that mirrored his own.

 _Perhaps if you'd been paying better attention, Kaoru, you wouldn't look so surprised now. I can't imagine what you must be thinking…_ Hikaru took one hand and ran it from his brother's auburn locks across his collarbone and chest until he paused just above Kaoru's hips and squeezed lightly. His younger brother's eyes widened in shock, and his face turned redder than Haruhi's roses instantaneously.

"Let's just say that I would get to have a lot of fun," Hikaru said, his voice deep and low again. Kaoru squirmed a little, beginning to grow uncomfortable with so much attention. Hikaru was making him nervous, and the dizzy feeling in his stomach was growing incrementally worse with each passing second.

Though they'd previously been unaware that such a thing was possible, the three girls sitting on the couch across from them exploded into insanely powerful nosebleeds. Mori appeared with a mop and bucket, wiping away the stream of red the three girls had created along with a subtitle box reading "Nosebleeds of Extreme Moe."

When it came time for them to leave, the three girls still had not entirely recovered from their ordeal, pressing tissues daintily to their noses and even going so far as to leave Kyoya with astoundingly large tips as they scuttled out the door. The Shadow King looked over at the mischievous twins and nodded, visibly impressed with the two gingers' performance for the day.

Hikaru reluctantly backed off, even offering a hand to help pull his brother back up into a sitting position. Chuckling, Hikaru reached out to run his fingers through his little brother's silky hair, straightening the rumpled strands. As their next customers sat down, both Hitachiins were wondering the same thing: _How much of that wasn't just an act?_


	5. Chapter 5: Lecture by the Lady Manager!

As the doors closed behind the Host Club's final customers for the afternoon, Hikaru and Kaoru slumped simultaneously onto their couch. Akari, Yuna, and Nanami hadn't been the only girls curious about the twins' garden escapade. Kaoru, especially, was exhausted from so much of Hikaru's teasing. There had come a point at which the topic of Kaoru's punishment had come up so much that Kaoru's brain seemed to shut down, unable to withstand any more of the racing heartbeat and shaky nerves that came with that subject.

The younger Hitachiin leaned his head on Hikaru's shoulder and closed his eyes. "Are you that tired, Kaoru? You look like you've run a mile!" Hikaru stifled a laugh. _I think running a mile would've been easier,_ Kaoru thought.

"You two were popular today," Haruhi noted, sitting down on the couch across from them. Her dark brown hair had fallen into her eyes, giving her that innocent, sweet look that had caused so many of the Hosts to fall for the maiden.

"Thanks," the twins said together. Kaoru opened his eyes and sat up a little bit. Quickly, he glanced at his big brother, trying to gauge how Hikaru was reacting. Some small, hidden part of the younger twin seemed to be holding stubbornly onto the hope that maybe today's events would've had some kind of effect on his sibling.

"Haruhi! Why did you abandon Daddy for the evil doppelgangers?" The King of Host Club came running across the room, stopped behind Haruhi's couch, and leaned down to wrap his arms protectively around his girlfriend. Haruhi rolled her eyes and said, "Relax Senpai, I just wanted to talk to them."

"But _I_ want to talk to you! And who knows what kind of nasty prank they're planning!" Tamaki argued. The blonde's violet eyes scanned the room suspiciously for any traditional Hitachiin pranks.

"Actually," Kaoru paused to allow Hikaru to finish the sentence, "We're too tired for pranks today."

Tamaki's eye twitched. "Too. Tired?"

Honey materialized beside the twins, offering up a strawberry cake and a childish grin. His flowers had appeared around his head. "Cake will help!" Mori just patted Honey's head sympathetically.

"The girls all seemed pretty worked up over what happened out in the gardens there. It's no wonder you're tired. It was a pretty moving scene," Haruhi admitted. Though she would never admit it to the twins, (they would tease her about it for all eternity) or anyone else for that matter, the brunette had felt a twinge of that "moe" the Host Club customers were frequently afflicted with. She reasoned that it came from having recently gotten to know the twins so much better, but it hardly held a candle to the feelings she had discovered for Tamaki.

"Even Haruhi's smitten, huh?" Kyoya smirked, scribbling in his notebook. Minor waves of anger rolled off of Tamaki. _Mommy is teasing Haruhi… Daddy will not allow this…_

"That's it! Daddy is taking Haruhi home!" Tamaki declared, leaping to his feet and dragging an annoyed Haruhi behind him as he left. Kyoya stared after them and pushed his glasses up his nose. The couple was already out the door, and thus didn't hear Kyoya say quietly, "Knowing Tamaki, it'll be a miracle if we can't hear them from here."

The Hitachiins burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs and trying not to fall off the couch. Mori, meanwhile, tossed Honey onto his shoulders and walked out the door, presumably heading home as well. Kyoya watched the twin gingers with a somewhat disdainful expression for a moment or two before leaving silently.

When they could finally stop laughing, the twins exchanged a look of _Haruhi would kill the Boss if he tried anything_. It might've just been a continuation of their previous outburst, but the lady manager didn't think so. Both Hitachiins looked up in surprise as the lights of Music Room #3 flickered and a powerful motor raised Renge up into view. _Isn't this a music room?_

"I applaud you, boys, for your excellent showing this afternoon!" Renge cried, "But alas, I am still not satisfied!"

"Who asked you if you were satisfied anyway?" Hikaru retorted so that only his brother could hear.

"If you insist on increasing the magnitude of your 'brotherly love' angle, you cannot just go through the motions! You may be hosts, but you are not actors. I, as an experienced shipper and otaku, was able to see right through that façade this afternoon. To really captivate your audience, your feelings for one another must be real! Follow through with your promises! To leave your fans hanging like this, on the edge of something real, is absolutely cruel!" Renge explained passionately.

The twins squinted suspiciously at Renge, at each other, then at Renge again. "So you want us to commit incest?"

"That's a fairly big step, don't you think? And besides, in your case we would call it 'twincest'. But anyways, I'm just saying you should start small. Have the two of you ever kissed each other?" Renge put her hands on her hips and stared at them expectantly.

"Don't you think this is getting a little personal?" Kaoru asked at the same time as Hikaru said, "Well, sure, when we were little…"

Renge threw her hands up victoriously. "But you have never kissed in Host Club, or at school, correct? It's not that hard to understand, boys! Can you imagine what just a little more romantic effort on your part would do to your fanbase?"

"Renge-san, isn't it taboo to kiss your brother? In a romantic way, I mean?" Hikaru asked.

"One of the main draws of your relationship is the fact that it's taboo! And look how many customers you get for it!" Renge pointed out.

 _She's really serious about this. She's even crazier than I thought!_ Kaoru shifted on the couch. The lady manager's unwavering look of pure triumph was getting on his nerves. And really, his nerves had taken an awful lot of stress today.

Hikaru had an entirely different take on the situation. _I suppose it can't be all that different. We already come so close to kissing most days, especially today. And I've kissed Kaoru's fingers and such before. How can just a peck on the lips hurt?_

"Well, it's getting late, and I'm sure you two have _things_ to be doing. Just remember to think about what I've said, m'kay?" Renge twirled around like a four-year-old girl as her powerful motor lowered her back down into… wherever that thing came from.

There was a long silence before either twin said anything. The elder Hitachiin was trying to figure out whether or not kissing his brother would actually be crossing the line of taboo. (Not that he was thinking about kissing Kaoru. They were brothers. It was almost as ridiculous as, say, marrying your cousin.) (But then again Edgar Allen Poe married his cousin, and he was a great poet.) The younger Hitachiin was going back and forth on whether or not Hikaru would really kiss him. Sure, they'd always been close, even for twins, but were they really that close?

A horrible thought occurred to both twins at the same time: _What if we did kiss, and it wrecked our relationship?_ They shivered simultaneously, neither noticing the other's somewhat visible state of distress. _That's it. There will be absolutely no kissing between us. It's just too risky. Life without him… It just wouldn't be life._


	6. Chapter 6: Nightmare, Part 1

**Warning: This chapter is darker than the previous chapters and more graphic in some places. Everything still remains under the "Teen" rating, but please proceed with caution.**

 **On a lighter note, I'd like to thank you all for reading and for the lovely reviews a few of you have left me. I truly appreciate your taking the time to do that. Thank you, and enjoy your chapter; the Hitachiins have been waiting for you.**

Sunset painted the Hitachiin manor gold and red. Hikaru and Kaoru sat in the kitchen, attempting to throw together a combination of foods that could somewhat resemble what might pass as dinner. Why they didn't have the maids do it not even they knew. Perhaps the "commoner culture" Haruhi brought to Host Club was rubbing off on the lazy pair after all.

"Kaoru, how about we try this packaged ramen? Haruhi said it was good." Hikaru turned around from rummaging in their pantry to face his little brother, who was sitting on the counter reading a book. Kaoru looked up briefly, nodded his consent, then went back to reading.

 _He's had his nose stuck in a book this whole afternoon. It must be something really good,_ Hikaru thought, only half paying attention to the two packages of ramen he was in the process of cooking on the stovetop. He was doing his best to follow the instructions on the package, but how was he supposed to know which heat setting on the stovetop was 'medium'?

Kaoru turned another page in his book. The book itself was great, but Kaoru couldn't bring himself to pay much attention to it. It was something he'd read for a school project when he was in junior high; now the younger twin needed it solely for the purpose of distracting him. Between all the attention at Host Club and Renge-san's lecture afterward, Kaoru was afraid to let his mind wander freely.

The younger Hitachiin had become so immersed in his book that he didn't notice when his brother crawled up onto the counter behind him and wrapped his arms snugly around his little brother's waist. On the stove, the ramen was cooking on high heat. Hikaru propped his head on Kaoru's shoulder, and asked, "Watcha reading, Kao?"

It was his brother's arms around his waist that startled Kaoru first. _I need to stay focused on my book._ Then Hikaru's voice asked about his book, prompting the younger twin to immediately close the volume. _Stay focused, Kaoru._ It was impossible for Hikaru to read the novel's title at its current angle, but now the older twin simply wanted to sit and cuddle a little bit with his brother. _Wait, did Hikaru just call me "Kao"?_

With Kaoru distracted and Hikaru having completely forgotten that he was supposed to be cooking something, neither twin noticed right away when the ramen boiled over viciously, spilling hot water and overcooked noodles all over the stovetop and floors. Kaoru, who took notice of this fact first, looked up and sighed, "Hikaru, your ramen has had a temper tantrum."

The older twin now noticed the ramen's predicament as well, and reluctantly lowered himself off the counter to clean it up. Being careful not to step in the boiling water, Hikaru turned off the stove and dejectedly mopped up the mess with a rag. Kaoru stepped in to help after a minute.

"Well, now what are we going to eat?" Hikaru wondered aloud, frowning at the now clean kitchen.

"It's alright Hika, I'm not that hungry anyways. Let's just go to bed," Kaoru said with a yawn. Usually the twins would've stayed up much later than seven o'clock, but it had been a long day for them both. As they trudged up the stairs to their bedroom, Hikaru suddenly realized, _Wait, did Kaoru just call me "Hika"?_

The sky was not yet completely dark when the Hitachiin twins climbed into their bed together. Pale moonlight illuminated patches of the floor, while most others were left in shadow. A few stars could be seen, glimmering in the distance like a fish's silver scales reflecting the sunlight. Their breathing perfectly in sync, the Hitachiin twins fell asleep soon thereafter.

Hikaru dreamed of a beach. At first there was only blinding sunlight and warm, golden sand. Waves crashed against the seashore, but for the time being, it was only ambient. As the world took form around him, Hikaru identified it as the beach they'd visited in Okinawa about a year ago.

The elder twin was wearing colorful swim trunks, and walking down a cobblestone path. Jungle trees crowded either side of the walkway, and he got the sense that he was looking for someone. _But who?_ Kaoru. Since the younger boy was nowhere in sight, he must've been looking for Kaoru.

It was around midday, and the sun was relentless and warm on his bare back. Several colorful birds flew across Hikaru's path. He admired each one. Said birds had flown past several times before the older Hitachiin realized it was the same four birds flying back and forth across his path. Each was a different color: one white, one purple, one pink, and one dark blue.

It was just now that the auburn-haired boy looked down to find himself clutching a pale blue rose, beautiful and in full bloom. But as Hikaru watched, a petal fell away from it, drifting slowly to the ground in the warm summer breeze. A sickening feeling made his gut churn; somehow he knew that this rose was a time limit, and if he didn't find his brother before all the petals were gone, something terrible was going to happen.

Now Hikaru ran down the path, growing ever closer to the sound of the ocean waves hitting the shore. He almost didn't notice the fact that he was desperately shouting Kaoru's name. The older boy's feet suddenly hit warm sand. The path he'd been following opened up onto a picturesque beach, but looking up and down the shoreline, Hikaru couldn't see his brother anywhere.

"Hikaru!" The elder twin would've recognized his brother's terrified shout anywhere. Hikaru burst into motion, his feet propelling him with increasing speed toward a new cobblestone path which had seemingly just now appeared in the knot of tropical forest. Kaoru was somewhere in this jungle, and he was in trouble.

"Hikaru!" This time it wasn't Kaoru's voice, but Mori's, that rang out from the jungle. _Huh? Why does Mori need my help?_ Hikaru was so caught up in the shock of hearing Mori's panicked cry that he didn't notice when a new cobblestone path formed to his left. At the end of the path, a group of vicious looking wolves had surrounded Mori, and were slowly advancing, snapping their jaws in morbid anticipation.

Hikaru, catching sight of this scene, sprinted toward his friend. The older, dark-haired boy looked uncharacteristically fearful. As Hikaru approached, Mori cast the wolves a frightened glance, then shouted, "No, Hikaru! Leave me! Kaoru's in trouble, you have to help your brother!"

The mischievous ginger slid to a halt, breathing hard from so much running. He didn't want to believe his ears. Mori shouted again as the wolves crept closer, snarling, "Hikaru, go! Help Kaoru!"

 _I don't want to leave Mori here, but I have to believe he can get himself out of this. I have to help Kaoru._ Hikaru kept running, back to his original path and continuing toward the sound of his baby brother's voice. Even as Hikaru ran away, he knew in his heart that Mori could not beat the wolves on his own. A few more petals fell from his rose.

"Hikaru!" There was suddenly another path, this time to Hikaru's right. It was Honey who cried out this time. Hikaru didn't think twice before turning toward the boy-Lolita host. The teen was deep in battle with five ninjas wearing dark clothing; they looked a little bit like the Black Onion Squad. Granted, Honey was an incredible martial artist, but whenever he kicked these ninja-guys down, they simply rose back up, unharmed. Even a distance of about 25 yards, Hikaru could see his friend was getting tired; Honey wouldn't last much longer.

"You have to help Kaoru, Hikaru! He needs your help!" Honey protested, kicking down two of the ninjas again. The smaller boy was panting. _I can't leave Honey. Not after I left Mori. But Kaoru…_

"Go, Hikaru! Now!" Honey screamed, judo-flipping another ninja. Swallowing down the lump of guilt that had risen to his throat, Hikaru turned around and sprinted back to the main path, wincing as he heard the thumps and grunts of battle behind him. _Kaoru needs your help._ The rose dropped a few more petals.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru's voice screamed his name at the same time as Kyoya's voice shouted it from a passage to Hikaru's left. The older Hitachiin froze, torn between saving his brother and going to help Kyoya. There was a chance that if he went to help Kyoya, the Shadow King would only turn him around as Honey and Mori had done. But if he helped Kyoya, who knew what could happen to Kaoru?

"I'm coming Kyoya!" Hikaru shouted. His voice had become hoarse and scratchy; it hurt to yell. As Hikaru sprinted down the path in the direction of Kyoya's voice, the jungle grew darker, until it was pitch black all around. Still the twin devil struggled forward.

"Hikaru, Kaoru's in danger! You can't help me!" Kyoya shouted from somewhere ahead in the darkness. An unknown source of light illuminated the Shadow King, who was suspended by black chains over a dark substance. The chains were slowly lowering him toward the substance, and when his feet hit the dark liquid, Kyoya's face twisted in pain. Hikaru now saw the dark substance bore a faint watermark; specifically, the light was shining on it in such a way that the Ootori family symbol was illuminated on its surface.

 _The Shadow King is being swallowed by his familial ties, and he wants me to just leave him?_ Kyoya was shouting at Hikaru to go, run, help Kaoru, but the older Hitachiin was stupefied, unable to move, think, respond, anything. Somewhere in the distance, Kaoru's voice called out for Hikaru. Tears pricked the edges of Hikaru's eyes as he ran back in the direction of his brother's voice, leaving the shadows and several more soft blue petals behind.

When Tamaki shouted, Hikaru was prepared. _This is my last chance. I have to help Tamaki, if only because I couldn't help the others._ But the Hitachiin boy was in no way prepared for what he saw. The king of Host Club knelt at the foot of a beautiful woman. And for once in his life, Tamaki looked completely and utterly powerless.

Hikaru couldn't hear the words Tamaki exchanged with that goddess of a woman, but the scene was so exotic, so intimately romantic… He couldn't bring himself to stick around. _The Host Club King was finally undone by his own charms._ Hikaru ran away from the scene. Behind him, he heard Tamaki scream in pain. The twin refused to turn back. Sky blue petals drifted behind him.

Running along the original path once more, Hikaru glanced nervously at the rose, still clutched tightly in his hands. More than two-thirds of the flower's petals had detached themselves and disappeared. A loud squawk drew the twin's attention toward the sky. He watched in horror as one by one, the colorful exotic birds he'd seen earlier plummeted to the ground and remained there, limp and lifeless.

By now, the older Hitachiin was shaking with nerves. He'd left his friends behind one by one, allowing them to suffer. _You could've helped them. But you only cared about getting to Kaoru,_ Hikaru chided himself. Now, his only option was Kaoru.

"Hikaru!" This scream was the loudest, positively ear-splitting and definitely Kaoru's. Hikaru had never heard his little brother sound like this. His chest was tight and his legs quivered with exhaustion, but Hikaru ran as fast as he could manage. He had to reach Kaoru.

Hikaru burst into a clearing. It was a large open space, with tiki lamps blazing at random intervals throughout the area. Two large, wooden, altar-like structures had been set up on the far side of the cobblestone courtyard. On one of the altars, Kaoru slumped to the ground, bleeding and bruised. Anger tinted the edges of Hikaru's vision red. Whoever had injured his twin like this had hell to pay for it.

But on the other altar lay Haruhi, also limp and beaten. Never in his life had Hikaru seen the petite brunette so helpless and in pain. Even that time he'd found her in the church, frozen in fear from the thunderstorm, was nothing compared to the pained expression which now twisted her delicate features. Hikaru clenched his fists, shaking not from exhaustion, but from pure fury now.

 _Choose, Hikaru,_ Renge's voice whispered. Hikaru whirled around, but the owner of the voice was nowhere to be seen. Turning back to his brother and Haruhi, Hikaru shouted a warning as fire sparked itself into life beneath each wooden altar. _You can only save one,_ Renge's voice went on.

 _I can't do this,_ Hikaru thought. _I can't make this decision. My brother or Haruhi… I love Haruhi, but what would I do without Kaoru?_ Hikaru's stomach twisted nauseatingly –his rose had lost all of its petals- and the world turned black.

 _It was only a dream. No, not a dream. It was just a nightmare._

Kaoru dreamed of the hallways at Ouran. It was nighttime, and the entire school was dark with shadows. Outside, the only light came from the crescent moon and the glowing face of the clock tower. A raven cawed, the sound echoing hauntingly through the endless hallways.

The younger Hitachiin was standing in the hallway outside Music Room #3. Two figures walked hand in hand in the darkness ahead, moonlight outlining their figures. It was a boy and a girl. No, it was more than that. _It was Haruhi and Hikaru._

 _Of course,_ Kaoru thought disappointedly. _Today didn't change a thing. Hikaru is still head over heels for Haruhi, and so am I._ Jealousy prickled along Kaoru's skin, biting like ants.

Now the younger devil realized that his brother and Haruhi were talking about something. He began to walk along the corridor with the intention of catching up to them just enough to eavesdrop on their conversation.

As Kaoru was walking past a shadowy set of doors, Mori's face appeared in front of them, illuminated as if the protective older student were a ghost. "Kaoru, you shouldn't eavesdrop. Don't your brother and Haruhi deserve some privacy?"

Kaoru turned toward Mori, eyes wide, but the dark-haired boy had entirely disappeared. The younger ginger leapt toward the door, reaching around in the darkness for Mori, but it seemed there was truly no one there. "Hey! Come back here!"

Deciding to shrug off the strange encounter, Kaoru kept after his brother and crush. Mori's strange intervention had caused Kaoru to fall behind. Unfortunately, Kaoru was not so far behind that he couldn't see Hikaru's and Haruhi's shoulders brush a few times as they walked. Haruhi was laughing at a joke Hikaru had made.

"Kaoru-sama, why are you following them? Are you jealous?" Honey's face appeared in front of another set of shadowed doors, also illuminated like some kind of otherworldly apparition. This time, Kaoru leapt toward it immediately.

"Honey! Get back here!" Kaoru growled as Honey's smiling face faded away. The younger Hitachiin looked nervously toward his twin, realizing that if he continued to yell, his older brother would eventually discover his presence. And everyone knew that the first rule of eavesdropping was to never get caught red-handed.

Kaoru now had to jog to keep his twin in clear sight. The way Haruhi leaned her head contentedly on Hikaru's shoulder was maddening. And still, the two talked quietly enough that Kaoru couldn't hear their words.

"Haruhi and Hikaru are in love, Kaoru. You need to accept the facts," Kyoya's ghostly face informed the younger twin. Kaoru leaped toward his target again, this time successfully clamping the Shadow King's face between his hands. His moment of triumph didn't last, though; Kyoya's face dissipated like fog in his fingers.

"Shut up," Kaoru murmured menacingly. His hands clamped into fists at his sides. Pouncing at the apparition had cost him even more time and distance. Now, Kaoru had to full out run to have even a hope of catching his brother and Haruhi. His eyes widened as Hikaru stopped and pulled Haruhi into a deep embrace.

"Kaoru, Kaoru. You're just upset because Hikaru chose Haruhi over you." The King of Host Club had selected the worst possible insult. Kaoru dove at the shadowy door where Tamaki's face flickered in a wall of fog with a shout of rage. Furious, Kaoru came up with only a handful of fug, which had already left his hands by the time he stood up.

"Kaoru?" The younger twin snapped his head toward his brother's voice. His stomach did a nervous flip. Hikaru had pushed Haruhi up against a wall, his arms on either side of her slender frame. The two were still barely touching, but it was the mixture of surprise and hurt on their faces that was the hardest to look at.

Kaoru bit his lip, trembling. He needed to hit something, break something, anything to release the build-up of tension inside. _If this is truly what Hikaru wants,_ Kaoru's eyes dropped to the marble flooring, _then who am I to take it from him?_

"Kaoru, were you… following us?" Hikaru asked incredulously. Haruhi's wide brown eyes watched Kaoru with disbelief, her cheeks tinted pink at having been caught in such an embarrassing predicament. Slowly, the younger Hitachiin nodded his head.

And then everything exploded. Not the fire and bombs kind, but the angry kind, the one that caused Kaoru to fly toward Hikaru with one fist drawn back. It sailed forward, delivering a strong right hook that hit Hikaru square in the jaw. Kaoru's vision went entirely blood red. For a minute or two, he could see nothing. When he could see again, he immediately wished he'd closed his eyes.

Kaoru had landed on Hikaru's chest, pinning his brother to the floor. Hikaru's face was bleeding in a few places and badly bruised. Kaoru looked down at his hands, which were equally as much of a mess. He'd done this. He'd hurt his own twin brother. Gasping at his own actions, Kaoru stumbled to his feet, still dizzy and in a stupor. The world seemed to spin and tilt like a top as he ran down the hallway, away from his brother and Haruhi. They both called after him, but it was no use; Kaoru was inconsolable at this point. The world turned black.

 _It was only a dream. No, not a dream. It was just a nightmare._


	7. Chapter 7: Sweet

Hikaru woke to find their bedroom still dark. The clock read 2:16am. It was annoying to have woken up at such a ridiculously early hour of the morning, but the older Hitachiin was actually glad to be awake. He wouldn't admit it, but that nightmare had really struck a note of fear into the twin. Speaking of his nightmare…

Kaoru wasn't lying beside Hikaru in the bed. Hikaru sat bolt upright, searching the room with his eyes in a panic, desperate to locate his twin. After that dream, he wasn't letting Kaoru out of his sight. He eventually found his little brother curled up on the floor, shivering and twitching.

 _Is Kaoru having a nightmare too?_ Hikaru wondered as he slid out of bed and padded silently across the floorboards to his twin. The younger boy whimpered, still sleeping. _I can't leave him here on the floor._ Hikaru bent over and slid his arms under his twin. _Dammit Kaoru, you're heavy,_ the older twin thought as he picked his brother up, bridal style, and set the younger boy as gently as he could onto the bed.

"Hika?" Kaoru mumbled groggily, his eyes opening just a crack. Hikaru climbed back into bed, laid down behind his brother, and wrapped his arms protectively around Kaoru's waist. The younger twin was too sleepy to blush.

"It's okay, Kao. Go back to sleep," Hikaru murmured, burying his head in his brother's soft auburn hair. Kaoru slurred out a response, but it was unintelligible. The younger boy's breathing had steadied only a minute or so later, and he fell back into sleep's clutches. Hikaru fell asleep too shortly thereafter.

"Hikaru-san! Kaoru-san!" The twins' final set of customers for the day appeared and sat down on the couch. Both girls were frequent customers. _At least this is the last set for today,_ Hikaru thought. _And I've got just the thing to entertain them…_

Kaoru sat forward and poured tea for the two girls, his brother, and himself. The tea had been much warmer earlier in the afternoon, and he'd already had at least three cups of the beverage, but one more couldn't hurt. Besides, he hadn't slept very well thanks to that stupid nightmare, and figured he could use all the caffeine he could get.

Hikaru reached for the sugar bowl, offering one of the sweet cubes to each customer before helping himself to one, intentionally neglecting to give Kaoru a sugar cube. The younger twin frowned and reached for the sugar bowl, but Hikaru shot out a hand to stop him. Feeling Hikaru's hand grip his wrist and push it gently away from the sugar, Kaoru looked over at his big brother, questioning him with his eyes.

The elder Hitachiin retrieved another sugar cube from the bowl and popped it straight into his mouth. "Hikaru, why can't I have any sugar?" Kaoru whined, sticking out his bottom lip a little bit. _There you go, Kao, now you're getting the idea…_

"But Kaoru, I want to be the one to feed you the sugar," Hikaru replied. The sugar cube, still fully intact inside the older boy's mouth, slid forward until it rested between Hikaru's front teeth, sticking out so that Kaoru could take the sweet white cube straight out of his brother's mouth. Their customers, realizing what was going on, squealed. This was a new trick; they'd never seen the twins do this before.

Kaoru's mouth fell open in surprise. The image of Hikaru pinning Haruhi from his nightmare last night flashed in the forefront of his mind, but the younger twin pushed it away. _It was just a nightmare, Kaoru,_ he reminded himself.

"Come on Kaoru, I know you're capable of more than just catching flies with that pretty mouth of yours," Hikaru teased around the sugar cube. Kaoru swallowed. Carefully, the younger twin inched forward and latched his teeth onto the sugar cube. He pulled his head back, taking the sugar cube with him. Hikaru smiled, melting away some of Kaoru's nervousness.

"Now, let the sugar melt on your tongue. Good things must be savored," Hikaru went on, tracing a finger along Kaoru's jawline. His little brother did as he was told, allowing the sugar to dissolve into sweet goodness on his tongue. Kaoru closed his eyes and swallowed.

"Good boy, Kaoru. I want to be the only one to feed you the sugar from now on," Hikaru commanded, tilting Kaoru's chin upward so that he could look down into his brother's brilliant amber eyes. They paused in this position, posing as if for a picture (and who knew, with Kyoya's spy cams, they might actually be being photographed right now). Their customers squealed and fanned themselves.

Kyoya stood up and announced that the Host Club would now be closing for the afternoon. Reluctantly, the girls stood up and bid goodbye to the twins. The other customers around the room also stood up to say goodbye.

"I have had a brilliant idea!" Tamaki declared as soon as all the girls had left the music salon. The six other members of the Host Club rolled their eyes simultaneously. _Whatever crazy kind of idea he's had, I highly doubt it's actually brilliant._

Nonetheless, the hosts gathered themselves around the center of the music room. Haruhi was practically halfway to laying down on the couch with Tamaki, her head resting on his chest. It was clear the brunette had been annoyed by this at first, but she appeared to be relaxing quite quickly, even snuggling into the blonde a little bit. Hikaru, Kaoru, and Kyoya all looked down at once.

"Haruhi tells me there's some kind of commoner's festival next week-"

"It's called a parade, Senpai," Haruhi interrupted.

"Right," Tamaki corrected himself, then went on, "A parade. We are going to go and observe this 'parade!'"

"Large floats!" The Hitachiins cheered in unison. Other members looked interested as well. Honey was proclaiming his excitement over to the event, however, it was unclear as to whether the recipient of this was Mori or the Usa-chan.

Tamaki cleared his throat. "I have one more announcement. We've decided that next week, on Tuesday, we will be cosplaying as popular anime characters. Who you'll be cosplaying as will be kept a surprise until next week, but I will tell you we've decided to follow recent trends and cosplay as yaoi couples."

Honey tugged on Mori's sleeve and asked, "Mori-sama, what's yaoi?" The tall, dark-haired protector said something quietly in response which the others could not hear. Honey seemed satisfied.

 _So, we'll be cosplaying as yaoi couples?_ Hikaru thought, his eyes meeting Kaoru's. _I wonder what the boss has in store for us,_ Kaoru thought, not realizing the intense eye contact between himself and his brother.

The Host Club gradually gathered their belongings and left Music Room #3 behind. As they walked out together, Haruhi said to the twins, "You guys will be really good at the yaoi acting next week. Besides, I think Tamaki-senpai has a pretty good couple in mind for you two."

"Eh?" Hikaru raised one eyebrow. "Any hints?" Kaoru asked, blinking curiously.

"Nope! Anyways, see you tomorrow!" Haruhi waved goodbye, then continued down several flights of stairs, eventually disappearing from the Hitachiins' range of vision. _I can't believe the entire Host Club is going to have a yaoi theme,_ Kaoru thought as he walked side by side with his brother down several flights of stairs.

 _It'll be fun to see the others try to pull off a few of our stunts. Speaking of stunts, we'll have to remember to use that thing with the sugar cubes again. Kaoru's face was so cute… He couldn't believe I was really asking him to do that! I wonder if he'd do it outside of Host Club._ Hikaru climbed into the car with Kaoru, hardly noticing when the driver whisked them away from the Ouran school grounds.

As the car drove steadily toward the Hitachiin manor, Hikaru suddenly found himself recalling Renge's words. _Kissing my own brother… It sounds so wrong, but at the same time, I feel like next week's cosplay event might change my viewpoint on these matters. We came close with the sugar cube today. I could've done it. Just leaned in and kissed him, if I'd wanted to._

 _But for now, I'm happy for us to remain just twins._


	8. Chapter 8: How to Love a Boy

**Quick A/N: Sorry this took so long, minna-san! Some of the characters in this chapter were unfamiliar to me, so it was tricky to write. I'll include a dedication in the chapter where the Hosts have their yaoi cosplay day to anyone who can guess the three yaoi pairings Renge has the Hosts portraying in this chapter! Hint: They're all fairly popular yaoi pairings, and I included some big hints throughout the chapter to help you out. Good luck, minna-san!**

"Good afternoon, ladies," the Hitachiin twins said in unison as their first customers sat down across from them. It was Friday, which meant the whole school was anxious to get on with the weekend. But that was no excuse for the Hosts to not take their job seriously.

"Good afternoon!" There were two girls here this time, each a slightly different shade of brunette. The twins shared a glance. _These two are new to the Host Club… So let's give them a reason to come back._

"So, you're both new, right?" Hikaru asked, pouring tea for the group. The girls nodded shyly.

Grinning slyly, the twins whipped out green caps and shouted cheerfully, "Then let's play the 'Which One is Hikaru?' game!"

"Um, the one on the left is Hikaru, and Kaoru is on the right?" The girls guessed after staring at the twins helplessly for a minute or two. "Uh oh, you got it wrong!" Hikaru said. Their customers appeared visibly upset by this.

"Hey, don't worry. Almost no one can actually tell us apart," Kaoru explained. Hikaru smiled. _It's always the same with us, isn't it? Other than Haruhi, we're the only ones who can tell each other apart._

An hour flew by, taking more groups of customers with it. "The Host Club will be waiting!" The Hosts reminded the girls in unison as the doors of Music Room #3 closed for the afternoon. No sooner had the boys relaxed from putting on their show than a powerful motor caused the floor of the salon to quiver subtly.

"I hear you boys are putting on a yaoi cosplay day next week!" Renge cheered as she appeared through the floorboards.

"Gaaah!" Every host covered their eyes and shouted with pain. Renge had apparently worn every piece of yaoi merchandise she owned. Shirts, jackets, necklaces, hair bows, even her shoelaces… Their female manager looked like a walking advertisement for every yaoi show/ship in existence.

When they had recovered from their scare, Kyoya said, "Yes, that's right."

"Well, obviously, a yaoi cosplay day would be a huge draw for the club, and if you performed well enough, you could gain a lot of customers. Am I right, Kyoya-sama?" Renge asked, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers.

"My calculations show that this event could increase our customer numbers by 150%," Kyoya stated, quickly checking his math in his notebook. The other hosts exchanged a look of surprise.

"So, it's very important that you boys do a good job! That's why I'm going to help you! After all, who better to teach you than an expert?" Renge laughed, clearly thinking her logic was easy to understand. _Wouldn't it be easier to have a gay guy teach us?_ Hikaru wondered.

"Everyone pair up!" Renge ordered. Tamaki grabbed Haruhi's arm and pulled her closer to him, indicating that the two of them would be a team. Honey, who was sitting on Mori's shoulders, stayed where he was. Hikaru and Kaoru were already standing right next to each other. Kyoya was the only one left. He analyzed the situation quickly, then walked away and sat down at his computer. His expression was unreadable.

"Kyo-sama, aren't you going to participate?" Honey asked innocently.

"I will not be participating in either the training session or the cosplay event. Someone's got to run the show." Kyoya gave a small smile, then became engrossed with something on his computer.

Renge smiled at the remaining hosts. "Great! So, if we're going to practice this correctly, you'll need to know a little bit about your roles for next week. I've taken the liberty of setting up characters and costumes for you all."

"Hey! I had everything all planned out!" Tamaki protested crossly.

"I find it hard to believe that _you_ actually planned something. Anyway, there are different kinds of relationships that bring about the yaoi relationship, so each of you will portray a different one of those. Tamaki and Haruhi, you two will be long-time friends and partners who would give anything for one another, but have just begun to see that you see one another as more than just fellow soldiers," Renge declared. Tamaki and Haruhi looked at each other. _It actually sounds a little bit like their real relationship with each other…_ Kaoru's eyes widened as he came to this realization.

"Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai, you two will portray a master-servant relationship. Mori-senpai is the dark, loyal servant who is sworn to protect his master. Honey-senpai, you'll be the young master with a haunting past who uses his servant to fight evil." Renge smiled and clasped her hands together. _Again, pretty close to their real relationship,_ Kaoru thought. _I wonder who Hikaru and I will have to portray…_

The Hitachiins swallowed nervously as Renge turned her almost-manic grin toward them. "And, portraying one of my absolute favorite pairings ever, Hikaru and Kaoru will portray two brothers who have sometimes been at odds with one another but ultimately find themselves pulled together by circumstance."

"I don't see how this is any different than our normal act," Hikaru noted.

"Ah! You see, this time Hikaru will play the calm, calculated, well-mannered (Renge put extra emphasis on the _well-mannered_ part) older brother. Kaoru will be the playful, hyper, talkative younger brother whom Hikaru is always trying to control," Renge explained. _Oh, so we keep our age relationship and just switch personalities. Kind of._

"Oh, and Hikaru, I need you to do a British accent," Renge added. "So, now that we all have our roles, let's practice! Tamaki and Haruhi, you'll go first!"

Boyfriend and girlfriend moved to an open space in the middle of Music Room #3. The other hosts sat down on two couches, watching their friends. When everyone was ready, Renge spoke up again. "Okay, so here's your scenario: You've been surrounded by a gang of evildoers, and have an intimate moment as you prepare for battle. Go!"

For a moment, Haruhi and Tamaki were silent, thinking. They then found themselves back-to-back, hands up in defensive stances. "Haruhi! We're surrounded!" Tamaki shouted.

Haruhi bit back the urge to snap, _Duh._ Instead, she replied, "This doesn't look good, Tamaki."

"Haruhi, if we don't make it…" Tamaki trailed off. Renge was frowning slightly off to the side.

"Baka! Of course we're going to-" Haruhi started to say, before being cut off by Renge, who wailed, "Stop! You're completely out of character! Tamaki, you need to be a bit more childish, and Haruhi, you're the strong tsundere. Start again!"

The two shifted nervously, and tried again.

"This is it, Haruhi." Tamaki sighed.

"This isn't the end, Tamaki," Haruhi reassured her friend.

"You're right. We can do this!" Tamaki grinned, throwing a fist in the air. Suddenly, Haruhi leaped around in front of him and mimed being hit by something, collapsing against Tamaki, who caught her flawlessly.

"Haruhi! No!" Tamaki shouted, his face going pale as he stared at Haruhi.

The brunette smiled grimly up at her boyfriend. "You should've paid better attention, baka."

Tamaki looked to be on the verge of panic. "I didn't ask for you to save me! What was that for?"

"Defeat them," was all Haruhi could get out before Renge ended their act with a satisfied (read: ear-shattering) scream. The lady manager was dabbing at her nose with a cloth and waved the two off without a word. Tamaki scooped Haruhi up bridal style. Honey and Mori stood up, deciding to go next. The Host Club King and his girlfriend took their seat.

Renge eyed Honey and Mori. The other five hosts could see the gears turning in her brain as she devised a scenario for her next pair of prodigies. "I've got it!"

"Honey-senpai, you've been kidnapped, and Mori-senpai, Honey-senpai will call for you to come save him. Go!" Renge was bouncing around and clasping her hands to her chest. _She's really into this stuff, huh?_ Hikaru thought. _Well, I suppose it is kind of nice to see her enjoying herself, even if it is at our expense._

Honey and Mori now took center stage. They seemed immediately more at home with this than Tamaki and Haruhi had been. Honey kneeled down and slumped a little bit. Mori had disappeared, blending into the shadows. For the first time all afternoon, Renge was standing stock still with anticipation. "Mori, come and get me," Honey ordered, his tone uncharacteristically cold.

The lights of Music Room #3 went out temporarily, leaving the five hosts in a state of mild shock. When they came back on, a number of chairs had been tipped over around the room. Mori stood behind Honey like some kind of haunted shadow. Then he picked up the younger boy.

"You could've called sooner, Young Master," Mori noticed. Honey rolled his eyes. The other hosts could see how much effort it was taking Honey to keep scowling. The boy was literally shaking with the effort of holding back a smile.

"Good!" Renge cried, noticing Honey's predicament. As soon as the word had left the lady manager's lips, Honey threw his arms around Mori, apologizing vigorously. He then sprinted away to find some cake. Renge had sat down in, well, it wasn't quite an emo corner. Perhaps a "fangirl" corner would describe her situation better. _They're so perfect for those roles!_ The lady manager thought between barely suppressed screams of moe.

Renge turned to Hikaru and Kaoru, her eyes glowing maliciously with excitement. "Now, I saved the best for last. You boys shouldn't need much practice, but I still expect a good show. Remember your accent, Hikaru."

The Hitachiins shared a nervous glance, then stood up and moved to their makeshift stage. _I wonder why Hikaru needs a British accent,_ Kaoru wondered. _So, Kaoru gets to play the boisterous younger brother, and I'm the controlling one… This actually isn't bad. I think I might like this,_ Hikaru thought, nervously running his tongue over his lips.

"Now, you boys are stuck on a deserted island together. Kaoru, you have a jacket, and it's really cold. Go!" Renge shouted. Hikaru and Kaoru turned to face each other.

Kaoru swallowed, then ran in a circle, shouting, "Wow! Look, there's so much sand here! And the ocean is so pretty!"

Hikaru shivered, and painted a cross expression onto his face. "Yeah. It also happens to be freezing cold."

Kaoru hesitated in his acting for a moment. _Holy crap, I didn't know Hikaru could do such a good British accent! Damn, that was… That was something else._ He'd almost called Hikaru's accent sexy. The younger Hitachiin continued his act of running in circles and marveling at the beautiful geography.

"Kaoru, we need to build a fire to get warm. If you've got that much energy, go chop some firewood for us," Hikaru demanded, another massive shiver traveling along his lean frame.

"Just wear your jacket, Hika!" Kaoru laughed, still sounding completely carefree.

Hikaru frowned. "You're the only one here with a jacket!"

"Oh." Kaoru seemed to calm down, and sat down criss-cross-applesauce in front of his big brother. "I'm sorry. Are you really cold?" Hikaru didn't answer. He just turned away with a small sigh of annoyance.

 _How can I get him to warm up, how can I get him to warm up, how can I… Oh! We can share my jacket!_ "Hika?" Kaoru called softly, standing up and shrugging off the jacket of his uniform. Before the older twin could protest, Kaoru settled the jacket over both of their shoulders, and pulled his brother into a sitting position.

"I thought you weren't going to do anything," Hikaru said. He exhaled, a warm breath fanning across Kaoru. The two were face to face. Off to the side, Renge had wrapped her arms around herself and was watching with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

"You always steal my jacket anyway," Kaoru laughed, a grin lighting up his face. In that moment, the younger twin looked so childish and innocent, that Hikaru couldn't help but realize he rarely saw his brother having so much fun. _Kaoru's always doing something to help me. I… I feel bad. I like seeing this side of him. I want to see it more often._

"Gaaaah! That was amazing! I swear, you guys knew those characters! I'm in heaven!" Renge yelled. The windows shook with the volume of her scream. Hikaru winced and shifted his body to shield Kaoru.

"That was pretty amazing, you guys!" Haruhi smiled, running over to her friends. The Hitachiins stood up off the floor. Neither of them noticed that Hikaru still had Kaoru's uniform jacket thrown casually over one shoulder.

"Thanks!" The twins said together. Renge was back in her fangirl corner, screaming and flailing about like a beached fish. Gradually, the Host Club began to pack up their belongings for the afternoon, assuming they were done since their lady manager appeared no longer capable of functioning properly.

Hikaru eventually glanced over at Kaoru and noticed his twin was still missing his jacket. Before he could check himself, the elder Hitachiin found his eyes tracing the curves and angles of his baby brother's torso, observing the image before him as if it were a beautiful painting he'd never looked at long enough to appreciate the intimate details included by the artist. _What the hell, am I checking Kaoru out?_

When the younger boy realized his twin had fallen unusually silent, he shifted his gaze over to Hikaru. The older Hitachiin promptly tossed Kaoru's jacket at him, turning his head away so that he could no longer be tempted. _He seems flustered all of a sudden,_ Kaoru chuckled to himself, slipping back into his jacket.

 _What's going on?_ Hikaru raked his mind desperately for clues to his feelings, combing through his ginger locks with one hand. _Kaoru's my brother, my twin. I shouldn't be checking him out. But then, why does it come so easily?_


	9. Chapter 9: Parades, Puppies, and Blushes

Saturday morning started with a pillow bouncing off Hikaru's head, thrown by Kaoru. The older twin opened his eyes lazily, thankful that the maids hadn't arrived to open the curtains yet. He could see his brother sitting on the edge of the bed, watching for his reaction. Hikaru retaliated to this unconventional alarm clock by chucking the pillow back at its thrower.

Kaoru chuckled, tossing the pillow aside as he stood up, and said, "Come on Hika, you lazy butt. We're going to that parade today, remember?" Hikaru grumbled incoherently in reply, indicating that he had forgotten about this particular event and was not too happy to have been reminded of it.

"Can't we just stay here?" The elder twin asked as he rolled out of bed and stood up. His younger brother had already thrown multiple articles of clothing out of their closet in his effort to locate a suitable outfit. Hikaru ducked under a shirt Kaoru had accidentally thrown toward his face and joined his brother in surveying the racks of clothes.

The younger twin sighed. "You'd think that with a fashion designer for a mom, it'd be easier to find something nice to wear." He'd completely dodged Hikaru's prior question.

"You're just not sure what kind of outfit to look for, Kao. It's a parade, not a party. Dress casually," Hikaru suggested, scanning the selection briefly before settling on a monochrome grey T-shirt and white shorts. _He does come in handy sometimes, I guess,_ Kaoru thought as he watched his big brother slip on the shirt and shorts.

Hikaru's shirt exposed about two inches of his porcelain midriff, an area Kaoru found difficult to pull his eyes away from, for some reason. They'd slept in only their boxers, so it seemed strange that he became more drawn to his brother when Hikaru had his clothes on. Kaoru decided that perhaps it was the fact that his twin's torso became taboo with the arrival of a shirt that made observing Hikaru's midsection more appealing. In many ways, it was similar to their brotherly love show at Host Club.

Kaoru turned back to the closet before Hikaru could catch him staring. _Why was I even thinking about Hikaru in that way?_ "I suppose you're right, Hika," the younger Hitachiin admitted as he pulled out an eggplant purple tank top and beige shorts.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Hikaru, Kaoru!" The maids entered just as Kaoru finished getting dressed. A mumbled greeting tumbled from each twin's mouth as they made their way out the door in search of breakfast. The parade began at 9 o'clock and was about thirty minutes away, giving the Hitachiins twenty minutes to eat their breakfast and get out the door.

Their parents and sister were sitting at the table already when the two boys came in. Even at shortly past seven in the morning, their mother was talking a mile a minute, describing a new fashion line to the youngest Hitachiin sibling. At the far end of the table, Mr. Hitachiin was completely absorbed in reading the newspaper. So, in other words, it was just another Saturday morning, other than the fact that the Hitachiin twins rarely got up at such an early hour.

After scarfing down a helping of French toast each, Hikaru and Kaoru bid goodbye to their parents and ran to the mansion's driveway to fetch their chauffer. No sooner had the two boys settled themselves in the backseat of their car than the elder twin's phone rang. Seeing that it was Tamaki, Hikaru answered the call, then proceeded to dangle the phone away from his ear.

"Where are you, evil doppelgangers? The parade is starting, bakas!" Tamaki Suoh yelled through the cellular device.

"We're on our way Boss, calm down," Kaoru replied. _Calm down._ Hikaru snorted softly. As if Tamaki Suoh was ever anything bearing any sort of resemblance to calm. "Plotting" was probably the closest the Host Club King had ever come to "calm."

"Yeah, and the parade shouldn't be starting for another half an hour!" Hikaru added.

In the background of the call, the twins heard Haruhi scolding, "Tamaki-senpai, the parade isn't starting yet. This is just a few people going to line up for the parade. Hikaru's right, it doesn't start for at least another half an hour."

Even through the phone, Haruhi could tell the Hitachiins apart. _I know she's explained how she knows before, but that doesn't make it any more unsettling that she can always tell us apart with perfect accuracy. The only other person who can do that is my brother, and he's got a distinct advantage._

"Well, I don't care! Hurry up and get here!" Tamaki complained, then ended the call. _Those twins are the devil_ , the Host Club King thought as he grabbed Haruhi's hand and pulled her along to pet some nearby family's Golden Retriever. The canine reminded him of his own dog, Antoinette.

The car transporting the Hitachiins had moved quickly, delivering the twins to their destination a whole five minutes before the parade was set to start. Said parade was taking place in a small village with no real draws, other than decent scenery and this annual town heritage parade. It showcased the various talents of local families, and gave the children attending school in the town a chance to show off their arts and crafts skills.

"You boys were almost late." Startled, both Hitachiins leaped around to find themselves face to face with the Host Club's Shadow King. Kyoya's driver was currently pulling away, apparently having just dropped off the older male.

"You're one to talk," Hikaru grumbled, turning away and leading his brother into the fray of the crowd. Kaoru couldn't help himself from giggling. His big brother looked like a cat who'd just been startled, complete with ruffled hair, tense shoulders, and an annoyed gleam in his eyes that clearly signaled that if Kaoru intended to rile up his twin today, now would be the most satisfying time to do so.

It was a very short amount of time that went by before the Hitachiins realized they were lost. How, exactly, two well-educated high school freshman could get lost on the main street (read: 5 blocks) of a suburban town remained a mystery, but at this point, the parade was scheduled to start any minute now, and neither Hitachiin wanted to endure an encounter with Tamaki's baseball bat if they didn't show up on time.

"Kaoru, do you see Haruhi and the others anywhere? I don't see them," Hikaru announced, standing on tiptoes to peer above the crowd. Pedestrians now lined the sidewalks -some sitting, most standing- in expectation of the parade.

"I haven't seen them," Kaoru offered not-so-helpfully.

"Maybe we should've stuck with Kyoya," Hikaru fretted, grabbing his twin's wrist and dragging him through a portion of the crowd toward a slightly less crowded area. The elder Hitachiin stopped suddenly, peering across the main road in an effort to discern if a certain head of blond hair was their eccentric Host Club leader, causing Kaoru to smack headlong into his brother's shoulder.

"Ouch! And if I remember correctly, it was you who dragged us away from him in the first place, Hika!" Kaoru said accusingly, rubbing his tender forehead absentmindedly.

Hikaru shot his little brother a look of annoyance, mostly because his twin was right and he knew it. "Yeah, well, Boss is gonna kill us if we're late…"

As if right on cue, the beginning of the parade appeared around a street corner. The gathered pedestrians greeted the start of the festivities which drowned out any attempts at conversation. Meanwhile, the Hitachiins shared a moment of genuine fear; Tamaki was going to kill them!

"Okay, well, let's just try to make the best of the situation. We'll watch the parade on our own," Hikaru decreed.

Kaoru narrowed his eyes and laughed. "What's with you today, Hika? You're so serious!"

Hikaru opened his mouth in protest, but Kaoru cut him off with a string of ridiculous impersonations of the elder Hitachiin. "Have you seen Haruhi and the others? I can't find them! We'll be late! We should've stuck with Kyoya! Let's make the best of the situation!"

The older twin promptly smacked his little brother over the head with one hand. Kaoru just threw his head back in a laugh. Hikaru noticed, at that moment, that at some point his gripping Kaoru's wrist had turned into his holding Kaoru's hand. A rosy tint made its way onto the older twin's porcelain cheekbones.

Kaoru was about to comment on his twin's sudden blush when he, too, noticed the compromising situation that had befallen the two boys. Suddenly, the noise of the festivities going on around them seemed a little quieter, and maybe a little slower as well. Two identical sets of brilliant amber eyes connected.

"I, uh-"

"Hika-"

"There you two are!" Tamaki Suoh came racing toward the Hitachiin twins, the rest of the Host Club in tow. Hikaru and Kaoru promptly sprang apart, hands feeling unusually warm and tingly. Luckily, the blonde did not appear to notice the implicative situation that had just unwound, and neither did Mori or Honey. On the contrary, Kyoya's raised eyebrows and Haruhi's shocked smile implied that these two Hosts were a little less ignorant than their friends. They also sent noticeable amounts of crimson heat to the Hitachiins' faces.

"You missed the start of the parade!" Honey complained, then added, "Hey, why're your faces all red?"

"There was, um," Hikaru began to say. "A couple. Um, kissing, in that alley over there, and, ah, we accidentally interrupted them," Kaoru added. Honey seemed to buy the story, while Hikaru merely glanced at his brother in a failed effort to mask his surprise.

 _How did he come up with_ that _so quickly? Unless he was thinking about it in the first place,_ Hikaru thought, his face growing progressively redder as he tried to halt the torrent of images assaulting his mind. The younger Hitachiin, also blushing more strongly than before, had either caught on to his big brother's train of thought, or had become lost in a romantic fantasy of his own.

"It's unlike you boys to do anything by accident, especially something of that nature," Kyoya remarked, not bothering to look up from his notebook. Both twins stiffened noticeably. They relaxed when Tamaki gasped, having caught sight of something interesting behind the twin gingers, and shoved the firstyears out of his way to get to it.

"Oh Haruhi, look! This dog is dressed up for the parade! I didn't know commoners did that kind of thing! Haruhi, will you dress up Antoinette with Daddy sometime? Please, pretty please?" Some family had adorned their black Labrador with a strange, presumably historic outfit. With synchronized sighs of defeat, the Host Club trudged after their unpredictable King.

"Sure, Senpai," Haruhi replied, sharing a pained look with the Labrador. Tamaki leaped up from his crouching position beside the dog, shouting with joy. This was followed closely by the blonde giving Haruhi an excited kiss, directly on the brunette maiden's lips. Haruhi immediately flushed an impressive shade of crimson. It was unlike Tamaki to show so much affection in public.

Tamaki, dense as ever, simply grabbed Haruhi's hand and began to lead his girlfriend along the crowded street, searching for a suitable place to watch the parade from. The other five Hosts followed along, talking amongst themselves; or, to be more accurate, talking in small groups.

"Look, Takashi! There's a bakery, can we get cakes?" Honey exclaimed, pointing to a small bakery on the opposite side of the road. Mori responded with a somewhat consensual grunt.

"Pretty please, with a strawberry on top?" Honey continued to plead, this time earning a response from Mori of "Wait until after the parade, Mitsukuni."

Meanwhile, Kyoya had dropped back to walk with the twins, putting both Hitachiin brothers on high alert. If the Shadow King wanted to talk to them, especially right now, they could be certain it was unlikely to end well for them.

"Because I doubt you'll share what really happened back there, I just wanted to tell you both that I have a pair of weekend tickets to one of my family's resorts. You could get a free weekend to sort out whatever that was," Kyoya said.

The Hitachiins watched the older student suspiciously, then asked in unison, "But what's in it for you, Kyoya?"

The Shadow King just smiled. "Entertainment. If you want the tickets, let me know. Otherwise I'll have to give them to Tamaki and Haruhi. I have a feeling resort guests would rather overhear you two than put up with Tamaki."

On that note, the youngest Ootori son walked on ahead to catch up with Honey and Mori, leaving the mischievous twins with a somewhat uncomfortable silence between them. _Should we talk about that holding hands thing?_ Before either brother could reach a conclusion, Tamaki found a suitable place to watch the parade from, and loudly ushered the two gingers over to him and the others. Hikaru and Kaoru shared a silent look of agreement: _Whatever it was, we can sort it out later. For now, we've got a parade to watch… and a certain blonde to annoy!_

 **A/N: Since most of you probably don't check my profile page (it's a great place to stay up to date with me and my books), I'll just let you know here that I was dealing with some depression, and that's why this chapter took so long to post. I'm really sorry about that, you guys are amazing and you don't deserve a maniac like me for an author. But I'll do my best! This chapter was a ton of fun to write, so I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did!**

 **Also, if you're interested, I got my first manga today (of course it was Ouran), so I was extra-inspired to write tonight! Plus, I had delicious new material to fan over, some of which wasn't in the anime, plus I got to know the Hitachiin twins better! Hopefully now, and as I acquire more of the manga series, I'll be able to give you guys better, canon-er characters. Thanks!**


	10. Chapter 10: Ouran High School Yaoi Club!

"Haruhi, look, I'm a ninja!" Tamaki Suoh shouted, running out of his changing room dressed in a Naruto costume. Haruhi, wearing dark clothes and a black wig, gave her boyfriend a quick once-over before adjusting her ninja headband.

"Takashi, my eyepatch feels funny!" Honey yelled, jumping into his guardian's waiting arms.

"It's on the wrong eye," Mori commented, switching Honey's black eyepiece to cover the boy's right eye with one gloved hand. It was strange to see the cheerful boy in such dark, gloomy clothing. Mori, on the other hand, looked like he'd been born for a butler's uniform.

"We're coming out at the same time, right Kaoru?" Hikaru asked, fumbling with the last button on his brown coat. Kaoru adjusted his glasses on his nose and replied, "Yeah, are you ready?"

"Yeah. On three, kay? One, two, three!" The curtain between the Hitachiins' dressing rooms slid back. Hikaru was dressed in brown slacks and a matching jacket over a dress shirt and tie. Kaoru wore a bomber jacket over a green shirt and slacks, plus a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. Both twins burst out laughing.

"Do your accent, Hika!" Kaoru pleaded as Hikaru pulled the younger twin beside him, looking down into his little brother's amber eyes. Pushing a few strands of ginger hair back under their wig, Hikaru said, in a surprisingly sexy British accent, "You're keeping these glasses, right?"

* * *

"Welcome!" The Host Club greeted their guests with the usual light and rose petals as the doors of Music Room #3 swung open. Crowds of customers, more than usual, rushed forward, fawning over the six Hosts participating in today's event: Yaoi Cosplay.

Tamaki and Haruhi were dressed as Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, respectively, from the Naruto anime. Honey and Mori were dressed as Ciel Phantomhive and Sebastian Michaelis, from the Black Butler anime. Finally, Hikaru and Kaoru were dressed as England and America, or Arthur and Alfred, from the Hetalia anime.

From behind a closed door, Renge and Kyoya peered in on their friends. "They look great, don't you think?" Renge sighed dreamily as she struggled with a zipper. Kyoya hummed in agreement. "Kyoya, could you help me with my cape? I can't find the clip," Renge complained. The Shadow King discarded his own cape and helped the Lady Manager buckle the green cape around her neck and shoulders. Meanwhile…

"Oh, Tamaki-senpai, that outfit looks so great on you! And Haruhi, you look so cute in black!" A group of girls exclaimed. They were sitting with the princely and natural Hosts, too distracted by the cosplayers to drink their tea.

"Wanna see my jutsu?" Tamaki asked excitedly, standing up quickly.

"Naruto, you'll scare them." Haruhi stood up as well, then pushed Tamaki back onto the couch.

"You're no fun, Sasuke! Can't we have a little fun?" Tamaki complained. _Well, they're making a nice effort,_ their customers thought, giggling.

"Sebastian, fetch us some tea," Honey commanded in a low British accent.

"Yes, my young lord," Mori replied, disappearing to find them a tea set. Honey sat cross-legged in his usual chair, stoically watching his customers through one eye. _I don't know if I can do this! How is this kid so… dark?_ Honey panicked internally. Luckily, Mori returned at that moment with a tea set and went about pouring tea for Honey and their customers.

"Are you working on a case, Ciel?" One of the girls asked, blushing. Honey and Mori froze up for a second, before Honey said as calmly as he could, "Um, well, I'd like some cake. Sebastian, bring me cake."

"Yes, my lord," Mori uttered, walking away again to find some cake. _Well, they're doing better than Haruhi and Tamaki!_ The customers thought with a laugh.

Just then, the doors to Music Room #3 opened, revealing two more boys… dressed as Alois Trancy and Claude Faustus. The six Hosts stood up, startled by the appearance of more cosplayers.

"Welcome to the Ouran Host Club! I am Tama- I mean Naruto, and who are you?" Tamaki asked, twirling over to the newcomers in a fashion that hardly befit a ninja.

"Ooh, homos! I like this place! But I'm here for," the boy paused, looked around the room, and when he caught sight of Honey, shouted, "Ciel!"

"Aaaah! It's Alois Trancy and Claude Faustus! Kyaaa!" Customers squealed, rushing to fawn over the newcomers.

"Who are they? How come they're so popular?" Tamaki asked Haruhi, pouting.

"How should I know? Ask Renge. I'm sure she's around here somewhere," Haruhi replied, only just realizing that their Lady Manager was nowhere in sight. Craning her neck to look around the entire music salon, Haruhi realized that both Kyoya and Renge were missing in action. _I know Kyoya said he wasn't going to participate today, but it's strange for him to not even show up!_

"Ciel! There you are, I've been looking all over for you!" The boy dressed as Alois grabbed Honey in a vice-like hug. The shortest Host's eyes widened as he realized who was dressed as Alois. Apparently the rest of the school had been keen to get in on their cosplay idea… But then who was portraying Claude?

Mori and the Claude stared at each other. In a flash, Mori whipped out several knives, sliding them between his fingers like claws, and taking up a fighting stance. The Claude imposter did the same, although his silverware was gold.

"Young Master, shall I eliminate this bastard?" Mori asked, not breaking eye contact with the other butler. Honey stopped his attempt to pry Alois off and ripped off his eyepatch, revealing a contact lense bearing Ciel's contract mark. Five customers fainted on the spot.

"Yes. Eliminate them, Sebastian. That's an order!" Honey yelled. He managed to shake off Alois, and this time pulled out a fencing sword to defend himself. The Alois boy looked startled, then pulled out a fencing sword of his own.

"Claude! I order you to kill Sebastian!" Alois yelled as he and Honey engaged in swordplay. The clang of metal held the entire club's attention for a few minutes. Honey's martial arts prowess came into play as he swiftly dodged several attacks and nearly struck his opponent. Within moments it was an all-out martial arts duel, revealing that whoever was portraying Alois was also a martial arts master.

However, it was a hushed "Yes, my lord," from Mori that drew the club's attention to the second duel of the day, this one between two demon butlers. Both Mori and Claude pulled their gloves off with their teeth, causing almost half the customers to briefly lose consciousness. Before anyone could think to stop them, Mori and Claude were going head to head at the same time as Honey and Alois battled it out.

"Ha! You can't beat me!" Honey cheered. The Host had pinned the Alois cosplayer to the floor and was holding the other's sword triumphantly. Moments later, Mori had knocked all of Claude's silverware out of his hands, and the other raised his hands in defeat.

"Good fight, Ciel," the Alois cosplayer smiled, accepting a hand from Honey to help him stand up. The Claude cosplayer walked over to join his Master. Waving farewell, the two guests began to make their way out of Music Room #3. "Well, I'll leave you to enjoy your homo club. Ole!"

"Bye Chika!" Honey called after his brother. Outside the club room, Chika just smiled. Then, he turned to his partner and said, "I was wondering if he'd pick up on the fact that it was me. Thanks for helping me out, by the way."

Hikaru leaned over and whispered to Kaoru, "Did you realize it was Chika?"

"I guessed from the martial arts," Kaoru admitted, blushing faintly from Hikaru's accent. Damn, couldn't Hikaru use a British accent all the time? Even though Honey and Mori also spoke in British accents today, Hikaru's accent was so much better, although Kaoru couldn't pinpoint why that was.

A new group of three customers sat down with the Hitachiin twins. Startled, they recognized the three girls as Akari, Yuna, and Nanami. "Konnichiwa, Hikaru-kun, Kaoru-kun!" The three girls greeted them.

"Hello," Hikaru said, British accent on full display. _You know, as much as I love that accent, I kind of wish he wouldn't use it, at least not here. These people aren't close to Hikaru like I am,_ Kaoru thought. _Whoa, since when am I possessive of my brother? You're getting weirder every day, Kaoru,_ the younger ginger reprimanded himself.

Kaoru was snapped out of his thoughts when a warm teacup was pressed into his hands. Hikaru, smiling, said, "You're awfully thoughtful today, Alfred. Is something on your mind?"

"I was just planning a heroic new battle strategy!" Kaoru announced proudly.

"He thinks he's so great, doesn't he? We still love him, right?" Hikaru asked, apparently to no one in particular. Akari, Yuna, and Nanami paled, thinking that the older Hitachiin had gone crazy, because he was stroking the air and talking to it. That is, until they remembered Arthur's invisible friends.

Kaoru was so hung up on the _we still love him_ part that his next words came out thoughtlessly. "You love me?"

Hikaru and the three girls went wide-eyed as they realized what Hikaru had said. Sweating, the elder twin tried to cover up his mistake by saying, "Uh, well… Why'd you let me say that?" So, he was talking to the unicorn again.

 _What have I done? It just kind of slipped out… Did I mean it?_ Hikaru rubbed his hands nervously on his pant leg. Meanwhile, the customers seemed to be in yaoi heaven. Akari and Nanami looked spaced out and dreamy, while Yuna had even gone so far as to extend a hand to Arthur's unicorn in greeting.

A lightbulb appeared above the younger Hitachiin's head as he was struck by a brilliant idea. Looking away and trying to appear completely disinterested, Kaoru said, "Oh, I didn't realize it was a problem. I was going to say something similar, but…"

Hikaru's eyes snapped toward his little brother. _Did he just… No way, Kaoru never takes the lead… But with this pairing, I did read that America usually is the lead…_ "You were?"

"Yeah. I was going to say that… I love you too, big brother!" Kaoru cried, throwing his arms around Hikaru and burying his head in the older boy's shoulder. Hikaru's eyes went wide, and for once, he did not need the assistance of fake tears. A real one slid down his cheek, luckily where the customers couldn't see it. _Did he… Did he mean that?_

As the twin gingers were trying to sort out the complicated tangle of emotional goodness they'd just gotten themselves into, their three customers had gone beyond their breaking point. Mori appeared both a bucket to catch the massive amount of blood created by three simultaneous volcanic nosebleeds.

Music Room #3 had even hushed quite a bit, shocked by these words. "I love you" was so rarely used in the Host Club, and especially by the Host Club's mischievous type twins. Tamaki and Haruhi, subconsciously holding each other's hands, stared at the Hitachiins with open mouths. Honey had stopped chewing his cake, and Mori was emotionless as ever, still assisting in the cleanup of nosebleeds.

When Hikaru and Kaoru broke apart, both blushed madly at the realization that the entire Host Club had witnessed this event. Things just got complicated.

Gradually, the noise level in the music salon returned to normal, and the room's attention shifted back to the other hosts. Akari, Yuna, and Nanami had to be escorted to the nurse as they could no longer handle the extreme romantic tension between the Hitachiin twins.

The afternoon looked like it was going back to normal for a few minutes. That is, until Kyoya burst through the doors of Music Room #3, doing something the other Hosts would be sure to tease him about for the rest of his life.

"Sie sind das Essen und wir sind die Jäger!" The Shadow King burst through the Host Club doors, shouting at the top of his lungs and dressed like Eren Jaeger from Attack on Titan. Music Room #3 fell deathly silent.

"Oi, Jaeger! I told you to wait for me!" A shorter person came running in after Kyoya, this one dressed like Levi Rivaille. The Levi kicked Kyoya in the back, causing the Shaodw King to thud against the floor with a muffled "But Heichou!" With a gasp, the Hosts recognized this second person as Renge. _We should've known she would want to get in on the action. But how on Earth did she wrangle Kyoya into doing this?_

Manic laughter from the other Hosts was drowned out by ear-shattering screams from their customers. A flood of yellow dresses raced toward the doors, surrounding Kyoya and Renge. _Oh, so that's how she got him to do it. It'll turn a huge profit._

"Oh my god, it's Eren and Levi! Heichou! Eren! Kyaaaaa!" Kyoya and Renge walked fully into Music Room #3, the girls following closely at their heels. _Oh boy, I hope one of his hidden cameras gets pictures of this!_ Hikaru thought with a laugh. The Shadow King would never live this one down.

"So, Arthur, what was it you were saying earlier? Something about me being so great?" Kaoru asked in a husky tone, his mouth close to Hikaru's ear. The elder twin suppressed a shiver of white hot energy. He'd been caught off guard.

"Th-that's right," Hikaru mumbled out. A group of customers was now looking on eagerly. They seemed to like seeing Kaoru dominant for once. And, if he was being honest with himself, Hikaru would have to say that he liked seeing this hidden side of his brother as well. Looking around at the rest of the Host Club, Hikaru decided that maybe this yaoi cosplay had brought out some new angles to all of the Hosts.

Kaoru pushed Hikaru onto his back and leaned over the older boy, his voice hovering just above a whisper as he said, "Mmm, is all of me great? Or are some parts better than others?"

Yep, definitely some good changes here. "Personally, I adore this part."

 **A/N: Aww, yay! This chapter was seriously so much fun to write! Aaaand...**

 **I'm giving Lootmagoot a shoutout because you were the only one to guess who some of the guys were playing! Good job! *high fives***

 **So, did I get enough good yaoi cosplay in there for you guys? Any pairings you would've liked to see? Remember to follow, favorite, and review! Thanks so much for reading, you guys!**


	11. Chapter 11: Operation Twincest

"The Host Club will be waiting!" Seven cheerful Hosts promised as their customers departed Music Room #3. When the doors had closed completely, the students relaxed, tired from another day of club duties. One by one, they moved off to collect their belongings and head home for the day.

"Come on Hika, hurry up!" Kaoru complained, shifting his balance from one foot to the other as he waited for his twin to finish shoving a few papers that had fallen out back into his backpack.

The older Hitachiin looked up from his papers, realizing that they were the only two Hosts left in the club room. Everyone else must've been in a real hurry to depart today. "You go on ahead, Kaoru. I'll catch up to you in a minute or two. I don't want to keep you waiting any longer."

Kaoru breathed a quiet sigh of annoyance. _Well, that's Hikaru for you. Just when you're ready to go home, he goes and loses something. I'll pick on him for it later, though,_ Kaoru decided. "Alright, well, don't be too long," the younger ginger requested as he exited the salon.

 _Perfect, he doesn't suspect a thing,_ Hikaru thought with a grin. When he was certain the other boy was well out of earshot, he called, "Hey, Renge! I know you're still here, so, could you help me with something?"

The sound of Renge's powerful motor rising from wherever that thing came from filled the room. Hikaru rolled his eyes. Renge just couldn't go one day without exercising her flair for the dramatic. The elder Hitachiin began to wonder if the crazy otaku had ever considered a career in acting. Or marketing.

"I sense that someone is having a little boy problem! You called, Hikaru?" Renge shouted, twirling around in her yellow Ouran uniform.

Hikaru took a deep breath. "Yeah, that's right. I, uh… Kaoru-"

An earsplitting scream interrupted the mischievous ginger. Renge had dropped to her knees, mouth open in a high-pitched howl and spasming like a beached fish. Hikaru ran forward. What on Earth was wrong with her?

"Kyaaaaa! I was hoping you would say his name! The delicious rush of taboo, the thrill of forbidden love, two identical bodies coming together to form one single piece of beauty… I've waited so long for this! Say no more, Hikaru Hitachiin! I will help you win your brother's heart!" Renge monologued, speaking dramatically to some point behind the older Hitachiin brother.

Hikaru paled. "That's not quite what I was going to say…"

Renge froze, looked at the twin, and frowned. "Then what were you going to say? Choose your words wisely, Number 18."

"Well, ah, I was going to say that…" _Shit, I'd better not mess this up, or she really will have my head on a plate._ "Uh, I was going to say that Kaoru seems different after our yaoi cosplay. I think he, uh, really liked it."

Hikaru had thought that certainly praising her like that would elicit some kind of response from the Lady Manager, but Renge was emotionless as she pressed, "And?"

"And, I, uh… I think I don't feel the same way about him as I used to," Hikaru admitted, staring at the tiled floor as he felt an increasingly familiar warmth rise to his cheeks.

"How do you feel about him, Hikaru?" Renge asked, amusement sparkling in her caramel brown eyes.

Hikaru clenched his fists. The boy was certain his entire face was bright red by now. "Dammit Renge, I don't know! That's what you were supposed to tell me!"

Renge smiled softly and hopped off her powerful motor platform. The brunette then proceeded to walk in no particular pattern around the salon, thinking out loud as she did so. "Hmm… Usually, you would depend on Kaoru, who's knowledgeable about stuff like emotions and feelings, whereas you're not. But you can't go to your brother now because all these thoughts and feelings are about him, and talking about it would be awkward, especially if he didn't feel the same way. Besides, it would be very anti-romantic. So, you came to me…"

Renge stopped pacing and stared at Hikaru, inspecting him as if she were sizing up a new character in one of her dating sims. "Why not go to one of the other Hosts?"

"Can you really imagine me asking Tamaki or Honey for relationship advice?" Hikaru inquired incredulously. Renge seemed to realize her mistake, as she gave a little laugh.

"True, you wouldn't want relationship advice from the phony prince. But what about someone like Kyoya or Mori?" Renge asked.

 _Be honest, Hikaru._ "I thought you might know more about… something like this."

Hikaru stiffened up and hissed in protest as Renge delivered a crashing hug to his midsection. "Oh Hikaru, you're so kind!" _Me? Kind? Usually only Kaoru says stuff like that._

"Yeah, right. If I end up with a few broken ribs, you're paying the hospital bill," the older twin warned his classmate. _Jeez, thank goodness he's got Kaoru. Hikaru_ is _really bad at showing affection,_ Renge thought with a tiny smile. After another moment, she released the ginger, who stepped back swiftly and pretended to be occupied with brushing something off his uniform.

"Ok Hikaru, here's the plan: You can already act affectionate around your brother, but you have to take it to the next level with him. Once you've got him alone, woo him with some romantic words, and finish the night with a tender but passionate kiss!" Renge explained, her eyes dreamy as if she were imagining the entire scenario in her head. Hikaru shuddered to think just what might go on in the otaku's mind.

Neither Renge nor Hikaru had noticed they had never been alone in the club room. Throughout their entire conversation, someone had been sitting quietly in a corner, inscribing something in the notebook he always had with him. "You know, if you're looking to get Kaoru alone, those tickets I offered are still available."

Kyoya stood up and walked over to the two first-years. Both had been quite surprised to see the older student, but Renge, who had gotten over her shock quicker, moved the conversation along by asking, "Tickets? To where?"

"To a new resort my family built a few hours from here. It's got beautiful mountain views and some of the best hiking opportunities in all of Japan," Kyoya said, "I offered them to the Hitachiins at the parade last weekend, but their response was inconclusive. Would you like to take them now, Hikaru?"

Increasing levels of excitement washed visibly over the Lady Manager. Kyoya produced the tickets out of his uniform pocket just in time for Renge to snatch them away and slam them firmly into the older Hitachiin twin's hand.

"You're taking these tickets, Hikaru. You'd better make a move on your brother soon, and Kyoya, how soon can we ship these two off on their vacation?" Renge said.

"Next weekend would be ideal." Kyoya was already walking away, seemingly disinterested in their conversation now that the drama was over. The raven haired male picked up his school bag and laptop. Hikaru and Renge were truly alone when the music room doors closed behind their senpai with an audible click.

Renge refocused her attention on the mischievous teen. "So, you have until your vacation next weekend to make a move on Kaoru. Good luck!"

Hikaru watched in stunned silence as the brunette scampered back to her platform. With the help of her powerful motor, she disappeared, leaving the older twin alone in Music Room #3. _What in the world just happened? I just wanted her to help me clarify my feelings, and instead, I've got a luxurious vacation for two, and I have to kiss my twin brother by next weekend!_

 _Oh, yeah, I forgot, Kaoru's been waiting for me all this time! And he seemed really anxious to get out of here today…_ Hikaru sighed. He collected his bag, and made a beeline for the club room doors.

No sooner had the ginger stepped closed Music Room #3's doors behind him than the voice of his twin called out, "Ne, there you are, Hikaru! That paper must've been really difficult to find, huh?"

Hikaru's cheeks became dusted with red. "Uh, yeah, it was. Let's go home, Kaoru."

"Okay!" The younger twin agreed cheerfully, falling into step beside the other boy. Together, they made their way out of the High School building, and eventually left the Ouran campus behind. As their car pulled away, Hikaru thought he spied Renge watching their progress from the windows of Music Room #3.

 **A/N: I can't believe I've been able to update so frequently this week. Now we've got a deadline, that'll make things interesting... This chapter was a thank-you to you guys for getting this story to 1,000 views, so enjoy your treat, minna-san!**

 **Also, for those of you who were wondering, when Renge called Hikaru "Number 18" she was referring to in the manga/anime when she made them do the movie, Hikaru's jersey number was 18. ;)**


	12. Chapter 12: Sick Day

It'd been three days since Hikaru's conversation with Renge and Kyoya. Renge's orders had been playing in his head on an endless loop, fraying the older twin's nerves even more with each repetition. Things had gotten to the point where Hikaru didn't notice his brother getting sick.

The elder Hitachiin woke Tuesday morning having slept fitfully, waking up frequently and slipping back into dreamland before he could ascertain what had woken him up. Worst of all, he still didn't know why he'd woken up so much. At least, not until Kaoru let out an ugly, rasping cough that made Hikaru bolt upright.

"Kaoru!" Hikaru gazed down at his little brother. Kaoru felt like crap, and it showed; his lips were chapped, his face shined with sweat, and there were bags under his eyes from spending the whole night awake and coughing.

"Hey, you're awake. I can't believe you slept so soundly, I thought I'd wake you for sure," Kaoru croaked, his voice hoarse. His older brother flinched at hearing his twin sound so pitiful.

"Oh Kaoru, I'm sorry, it's all my fault you're sick! I should've at least woken up and asked if you were feeling alright!" Hikaru exclaimed, collapsing forward and burying his face in the younger Hitachiin's soft ginger hair. Kaoru slowly pulled a hand out from under the covers and rubbed circles on his big brother's back, trying to calm the other's shaky, panicked breathing.

"No, Hika, it's not your fault. I could never blame you," the younger twin whispered. The two brothers were forced to pull apart so that Kaoru could cough without spreading the sickness to his twin.

Hikaru narrowed his eyes and slammed a fist down onto the bed. "That's it, I'm not going to school today. I'm going to stay here and take care of you."

Kaoru's gasp became a cough. When he'd cleared his throat enough to speak, the younger boy protested, "No, Hikaru, you still need to go to school. They need you at Host Club."

"Don't be silly, Kaoru. None of that is as important as you," Hikaru insisted. The older twin stood up and paced across the room. He muttered something under his breath, then disappeared into the bathroom. When he returned, Hikaru was carrying a glass of water, a bottle of Advil, and a thermometer.

Kaoru tried to protest as Hikaru set the glass of water on the bedside table along with the bottle of painkillers, but his complaints faded into fits of coughing. The older twin took his little brother's temperature, and frowned at the monitor.

"You're running a fever, Kaoru. I'm definitely not leaving you here alone," Hikaru teased in a sing-song tone. Kaoru breathed a sigh of defeat. _Why is my brother so infuriatingly stubborn?_

Hikaru handed Kaoru an Advil and the glass of water. The younger twin accepted it and swallowed them down obediently. Hikaru smiled. "Good boy, Kaoru. You get some rest, and I'll be back in a bit, alright?"

The older twin affectionately ruffled the younger's ginger locks, then trotted out of the room. Kaoru relaxed into the pillows. A moment later, his eyes fell shut. It'd been a long night, and sleep overcame him in seconds.

When Kaoru awoke from a strange dream in which he'd been made to model bikinis for one of their mother's fashion shows, he found his twin sitting at the foot of the bed. Hikaru smiled and said, "So, Sleeping Beauty awakes."

"Hey, Hika," Kaoru whispered hoarsely, a smile playing onto his lips.

The elder twin stood up, his movement as sleek and graceful as a panther. Hikaru definitely wasn't sick. Kaoru coughed into the crook of his arm again, giving his twin time to pick up the glass of water that had been sitting on the bedside table and offer it out to him.

As Kaoru took a long sip of the water, Hikaru said, "Do you want to watch a movie, Kao?"

This got the younger Hitachiin's attention. "A movie?"

"Yeah," Hikaru nodded enthusiastically, "I brought some DVDs up with me."

Kaoru leaned over to place the glass of water back on the bedside table as his older brother bounded across the room to fetch a stack of DVDs from their desk. Hikaru thumbed through them as he returned to his brother's side, reading the titles aloud. "I brought 'Shall We Dance', 'Hana', 'The Hidden Blade', and some American movie called 'Titanic'."

"So, do any of those sound good?" The elder Hitachiin asked as he sat down on the bed beside Kaoru. Judging by the amount of sunlight filtering through their windows, it was midmorning now; they still had plenty of day with which to watch the films.

"Is 'Titanic' about the boat?" Kaoru asked, his voice scraping painfully as he did so. The Advil he'd taken this morning had helped, but it wasn't a complete cure.

Hikaru set down the other DVDs and studiously inspected the movie in question. "Yes, it is. Supposedly it's a very iconic American movie."

As if he could sense his little brother's next question, Hikaru handed the DVD to Kaoru. The younger twin inspected it with an equal level of interest. When his curiosity had been satiated, Kaoru handed the DVD back to his brother.

"It looks interesting. Let's try it," Kaoru said with a smile.

Hikaru grinned in response and leapt up. "Then let's go! We'll watch in the theater."

What should've been a giggle turned into a cough as Kaoru watched Hikaru bound out the door like an overexcited puppy going for a walk. _He's been different, somehow, these past few days. I can really see it this morning. He… He may not understand why, and I can't say that I do either, but he's unusually considerate,_ the younger twin thought.

Slowly, Kaoru sat up and disentangled himself from the bedsheets. He paused to give his head a chance to stop spinning, even though he suspected that this headache would be with him all day. Grabbing his now almost-empty glass of water and the stack of DVDs Hikaru had left behind (in case they decided to watch another one later on), Kaoru followed his brother toward their home theater.

The house was blissfully quiet as Hikaru led the way to the theater room. Between the nearly floor-to-ceiling TV screen and cluster of extremely comfortable armchairs and loveseats, the Hitachiin home theater was the perfect spot for any kind of media event. There was even a popcorn maker, although Hikaru suspected it would get no use today.

 _You can already act affectionate around your brother, but you have to take it to the next level with him._ Hikaru shook his head in annoyance as Renge's words played through his mind again. _Once you've got him alone, woo him with some romantic words, and finish the night with a tender but passionate kiss!_

The elder Hitachiin swore he could feel the lady manager's impatient gaze on him even from the safety of his own house. This movie was a prime opportunity for a romantic move; _Ah, Kaoru, did you have to get sick?_

Kaoru arrived in the home theater a minute or two after his older brother, and was surprised to find the movie already in, with Hikaru skipping through previews. Without saying a word, Kaoru settled himself on one of the plush red loveseats. Hikaru finally got the movie to play, but he did not go to sit down with his brother just yet. Instead, he collected a box of tissues from across the room and refilled Kaoru's glass of water. He had too much nervous energy to sit down just yet.

"Are you alright, Hikaru?" Kaoru inquired, noting his twin's distressed expression as he sat down to his left on the loveseat. The elder Hitachiin looked momentarily startled at having been discovered, but this was quickly replaced with a cross frown.

"I'm fine, Kao," Hikaru replied tersely, then added on a softer note, "Let's just enjoy the movie."

 _I wonder if I'm getting sick too,_ Hikaru thought as he placed a hand gingerly on his stomach, which felt like it had gotten thrown in with a load of laundry on tumble-dry; although, a nagging voice in the back of his head whispered that it was the idea of kissing Kaoru that was making him feel strange.

 _Not today,_ the elder Hitachiin told himself, sparing a glance at his little brother, who had become utterly absorbed in watching the film. _Not until Kaoru gets better._

The twins had been watching the movie for some time when the film came to one of its most iconic points. Hikaru had recovered completely from his bout of nerves, and the frequency of Kaoru's coughing had been decreasing slowly but steadily throughout the course of the morning. It appeared the younger twin would be making a full recovery by the end of the day.

"Jack, I'm flying!" Both twins were captivated by the moment unfolding on the screen. Rose and Jack stood on the railing at the front of the ship, arms outstretched like birds. _I want to call this cheesy, but,_ Kaoru thought, _I'm not sure I can._

"Let's try that ourselves, Kaoru. It looks like fun," Hikaru suggested, standing up and pulling a surprised Kaoru to his feet. _Hika… what?_

"But we're not on a…" Kaoru started to protest, but he was silenced by a fit of coughing. When he'd recovered, he found Hikaru's arms around his waist. Sensing what his twin wanted him to do, Kaoru stretched out his arms and, deadpan, "Hikaru, I'm flying."

Behind him, Hikaru snorted. "Come on Kao, get into it. A little fun might help you get better."

 _Personally, I question your healing methods._ Kaoru kept that to himself, although, a little fun couldn't hurt, right? Perhaps this was something they could use in Host Club. The younger twin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, imagining that he could feel the wind throwing the salty scent of the sea against his face and the gentle rolling of the ship beneath his feet.

"Hikaru… I'm flying, Hikaru!" The younger Hitachiin repeated. A hoarse laugh tore itself from his throat, which prodded Hikaru into laughter as well. The older boy had pressed his cheek against his little brother's soft ginger hair and closed his eyes as well. Both of them laughed for a moment.

"This would never have happened if anyone else were here, right?" Hikaru asked, his voice rumbling in Kaoru's ear.

The younger twin could only nod in response. That had been an oddly fun thing to try, although his brother was entirely right; moments like this didn't happen around other people, even their family members. To an outsider it may have looked like another one of their brotherly love acts, but only the Hitachiin twins could even begin to differentiate between what was real and what was an act.

"Good," Hikaru murmured possessively, "Because only I get to do things like that with you."

Kaoru immediately retracted his previous statement. Sometimes, the line was too fine for even a Hitachiin.

The two stepped away from each other, sufficiently instigating the awkward moment of _What next?_

"Ah, are you hungry at all, Kao? I could make you some soup," Hikaru offered, scratching at the back of his neck sheepishly.

Kaoru plopped back down on the loveseat with a smug smile. "You mean you'll have one of the maids make me soup. I doubt you could even find soup in our cabinets."

"I could too! I'll prove it to you!" Hikaru insisted, storming out of the room. He wasn't really mad. _That's just Hikaru. When he doesn't know how to respond to a situation, he gets defensive like that,_ Kaoru thought, looking at the spot where his brother had disappeared with a wistful expression.

Returning his gaze to the movie screen, Kaoru realized they'd forgotten all about their film. _Oh, well; there's still plenty of time to watch._

 **A/N: This took much longer than it should've to post. Don't worry, I intend to finish this story; no matter how long I go between updates, I'm not giving up on this thing! If you enjoyed the fluff in this chapter, you're going to love what I have for you in the next chapter... Prepare yourselves. ;)**


	13. Chapter 13: Kiss Kiss Fall in Love!

**A/N: Are you ready?**

Thursday morning dawned clear and sunny, as if in a scene from a movie. The Hitachiin twins awoke peacefully. Kaoru had seemed to be fully recovered yesterday, and in turn had returned to school and Host Club activities.

 _I still haven't told Kaoru that we're going on that trip this weekend,_ Hikaru thought, staring at the ceiling, _and today's Friday. That also means that I have to make my move today. No more procrastinating._

As the two boys rolled out of bed and went about their morning routines, Hikaru brainstormed ways he could instigate a kiss with his brother. Even though he'd been thinking about it for almost a week now, he was still drawing a blank. And, now that the moment was nearly upon him, Hikaru suddenly felt more panicked than the times before, but in an entirely different way.

Now it wasn't so much of how to go about the kiss, but more how it would affect the twins' relationship. A kiss was a big step, even if said kiss was small and hardly worth remembering. _Am I even close enough with my brother to make wanting to kiss him seem anything less than preposterous?_

Kaoru, meanwhile, had noticed that, for the umpteenth time this week, his twin had slipped into one of his silent states of panic. _Hikaru's definitely not stressed about an upcoming test; we don't have any coming up. So then, what is he so worried about?_

When he'd finished buttoning up his Ouran uniform, Kaoru grabbed Hikaru by the crook of the arm and pulled him into sitting beside him on their bed. "Hikaru," Kaoru said, meeting his brother's luminous golden gaze with his own, "what's bothering you?"

Hikaru looked at his hands, which were folded in his lap. _I can't tell him… I want to, but I can't._

Kaoru took this breach of eye contact as a response, and went on, "You can't pass it off as nothing. You've been worried about something all week, and I want to help."

 _Should I just kiss him now?_ Hikaru wondered, studying Kaoru's lips for a second before returning his gaze to his lap. _No… I know I'm procrastinating even more, but I want our kiss to be special._

"Could we talk about it after school, Kaoru?" Hikaru asked, then added after a glance at the clock, "There's not enough time now, since we're nearly running late."

Kaoru saw the time and sighed, "Fine. But don't think you're getting out of this."

Hikaru smiled, concealing most of the turmoil inside. "I know. Come on, let's go."

It was as the two boys walked out the front of the Hitachiin mansion that an idea struck Hikaru. He stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the potted flowers by the front door. Kaoru, noticing that his twin was no longer beside him, stopped and asked, "Is everything alright, Hika?"

 _Everything is more than alright._ "Yeah, I just had an idea for a new trick to try in Host Club today."

It was the last class before lunch at Ouran Academy. The entirety of Class 1-A was restless. All around the classroom, students were doodling, daydreaming, and a few were even asleep. Their biology teacher wasn't helping matters any; today was just another uneventful lecture on the components of a cell.

Haruhi was quite possibly the only student paying even a remote level of attention to the teacher's slideshow. Glancing at the Hitachiins, who sat on either side of her, she wondered how long it would be until they asked to copy down her notes. Although, in all honesty, she rather doubted they would need to. Today's lesson was unusually easy.

When the students were released to their lunch break, Hikaru and Kaoru immediately disappeared to the cafeteria to purchase lunches for themselves. Haruhi followed them, since she'd be able to meet Tamaki in the cafeteria.

 _It's almost time. I just have to convince him to eat faster than usual so that we have time,_ Hikaru thought. The Hitachiins joined the line of students waiting to purchase lunch; it was short today, thank goodness.

The rest of the Host Club arrived together, four handsome boys from the upper classes with impeccable looks and charisma. Haruhi was waiting for them at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, already nibbling on her lunch as she read through the notes she'd taken in class that morning.

"Haruhi! Daddy's back!" Tamaki shouted, sprinting across the cafeteria to wrap Haruhi in a tight hug. The Host Club's King was too distracted by his girlfriend to notice the disappointed sighs that fell from the lips of a multitude of girls throughout the cafeteria at the blatant reminder that Tamaki Suoh had a partner, and it wasn't them. None of them realized Tamaki wasn't gay.

"Senpai, I don't understand why you still insist on calling me your daughter. It was weird before, but now it's kind of creepy," Haruhi said around a mouthful of sushi.

"I'm sorry Haruhi!" Tamaki apologized, releasing the brunette from a hug so that he could sit down beside her. Kyoya, Hunny, and Mori sat down across from the couple. A minute or so later, they were joined by the twins, who had made it through the lunch line.

 _Under normal circumstances, I'd be annoyed. I still am, but he's providing a handy incentive to eat faster,_ Hikaru thought, watching Haruhi and Tamaki discreetly. Kaoru, who sat between Hikaru and Tamaki, was chewing rapidly, shoulders tense and eyes obviously averted.

"So Haruhi, how were your classes?" Tamaki asked, shoveling a few bites of food into his mouth.

"Fine. Pretty easy today, actually," Haruhi admitted. She scanned the pages of her notebook one more time before closing it and returning the notebook to her bag.

Kaoru glanced around at the rest of the table. Kyoya was working on his laptop, Honey was too distracted by his cake to notice anything, Mori was… Well, Mori was Mori. And Hikaru was silent. From the rigidity of his twin's shoulders and jerky movement with which he scarfed down the school lunch, Kaoru guessed that he was either just as bothered by Tamaki and Haruhi's display or that whatever he was worried about was haunting him again.

Swallowing the last of his lunch, Hikaru smiled internally. _It's go time._

Kaoru watched, perplexed, as his twin stood up and pulled Kyoya aside for a moment. The two conversed quietly enough that none of the others at the table could hear them; although, Kaoru was the only one paying attention. Kyoya was unreadable, but Hikaru grimaced. _Does whatever's bothering him have to do with Kyoya?_

"Okay, fine. We'll do it," Hikaru sighed with defeat. He glanced back at the table. Kaoru looked away quickly, shoveling the last of his meal into his mouth; it was obvious he'd been staring. Fortunately, Kaoru was now finished with his lunch, and the operation could begin.

Hikaru walked around the table and whispered into Kaoru's ear, "We need to talk."

The younger Hitachiin stood up abruptly. "Okay."

The twins departed the cafeteria wordlessly. Once they were in the hallway, Kaoru turned expectantly to his brother, but Hikaru was already walking away, heading down the hall. Curious as to what his twin was up to, Kaoru trotted after Hikaru.

Only a few other students were in the hallways now. Nonetheless, the elder Hitachiin pressed on, making his way through the hallways until he reached a door leading to the gardens behind the Ouran high school building.

Hedgerows and flower arrangements passed with increasing speed. _Whatever he wants to talk about, it must be really serious if Hikaru's dragging me all the way out here. Maybe he wants to talk about what's been bothering him,_ Kaoru thought. _Although, I hope he remembers what happened last time we were in these gardens…_

They were in the very backmost corner of the high school gardens when Hikaru finally slid onto a bench. It was hard to get any more privacy than this at Ouran; this spot was nearly impossible to get to unless you knew exactly where you were going.

"Why'd we come all the way out here, Hikaru?" The younger Hitachiin asked, somewhat crossly. Really, from the amount of care Hikaru had put into getting them as far away from the other students as possible, Kaoru would've thought his twin was going to confess to a murder.

 _It's now or never,_ the elder boy sighed. "I wanted to talk about what's been bothering me…"

 _Thank goodness!_ The younger twin cheered internally. Kaoru placed a hand on his brother's arm and said, "You know you can trust me, Hika."

"Can you really?"

Kaoru's eyes widened. "What?"

Hikaru looked his brother in the eyes. "I said, can you really trust me? We're called the 'twin devils' for a reason."

"True, but I've known you my whole life, Hikaru. No matter what pranks we may pull, I'll always trust you." Kaoru's liquid amber eyes glittered sadly. _Is Hikaru really upset because he thinks I can't trust him?_

Hikaru turned toward his twin. His heart was hammering in his chest; it was a wonder Kaoru hadn't commented on it. Maybe Kaoru was just being- No. Kaoru was a Hitachiin too, and his identical twin, at that. Hitachiin twins were rarely "just being nice." It wasn't in their nature.

"Good. I couldn't wait any longer, so I had to make sure. Because if you didn't trust me, I couldn't do this."

 _Finally._

Hikaru grabbed a fistful of his brother's Ouran uniform and pulled his younger brother forward until their lips crashed against each other. The thundering of his heart in his chest froze, as if too stunned to remember how to beat.

The kiss wasn't soft; instead, it was a perfectly Hitachiin kiss: forceful, a little commanding, but more than anything, playful and teasing. A bit more pressure here, a little bite here, a teasing flash of tongue. And before either Hitachiin could fully process what was going on, it was over.

 _Did he just… Hikaru… He…_ Kaoru could form neither a coherent thought nor coherent words to relay the supernova inside. He was supposed to be the one who was good with thoughts and emotions and that kind of thing. And yet somehow Hikaru had recognized his own feelings enough to put them in action, without Kaoru's help.

Hikaru was just as badly off. Though he had rendered himself utterly speechless, the elder Hitachiin felt an overwhelming sense of calm, as if a cloud that had been hanging over him for some time had suddenly cleared away. To his surprise, it was more than the weight of fulfilling his promise to Renge that had been lifted from his shoulders.

"That's why we're the little devils, isn't it?" Kaoru's voice sounded far away.

Hikaru finally snapped back into reality. His attention was drawn to Kaoru's off-kilter tie and slightly wrinkled uniform from where Hikaru had grabbed him. The younger boy's eyes were wide and wonder-filled, and his lips slightly parted.

"Yes, it is," Hikaru admitted.

 _Had any of the other Hosts been in this situation, it would've been different. That's why we're all assigned different types. They're not just stereotypes; not roles we have to fill. They're really who we are. We are the twin devils not just because of pranks and mayhem, but also because of something within that tells us to break the mold, stand out, and turn heads. My brother and I, we're like the wind: restless, uncontrollable, and unable to be ignored._

"Hikaru, I," Kaoru was, once more, unable to produce the appropriate words. The feeling of Hikaru's lips against his played through his mind again. Nothing could ever be as exhilarating as the real thing, but Kaoru would take what he could get… For now, at least…

"I know. And I convinced Kyoya to turn off the cameras and microphones he had back here. There's no footage of any of this," Hikaru informed his twin.

Kaoru couldn't help a laugh. "How did you manage that?"

"We owe him a favor. But that's for later; I have something else for you," Hikaru said, one of his trademark mischievous grins surfacing on his face.

Kaoru looked on with interest as Hikaru reached into one of the pockets in his uniform and produced two small pieces of paper. The younger twin took the tickets from his brother's hand and studied them intently.

"These are tickets to a new resort built by Kyoya's family. Did Kyoya give you these?" Kaoru asked, his voice betraying his excitement. Hikaru smiled at the obvious joy this had brought his twin. _I guess all that worrying was for nothing. This didn't hurt things between us at all._

"Yeah. We're going this weekend," Hikaru admitted. Kaoru handed the tickets back to his twin, who in turn restored them to the pocket they'd come from.

"So, about-" Hikaru received no chance to finish his sentence.

"I'm not upset, Hika," Kaoru reassured his brother. A gentle breeze stirred the garden around them, temporarily reminding the two boys that there was more than just them in the world.

Hikaru swallowed. Kaoru, noticing this, asked, "So that's what you were worried about all of this week?"

The elder Hitachiin nodded. He could think of no words with which to express himself at present. Words weren't Hikaru's strong point, though. Innuendos, jokes, teasing, those were things he could do. Moments like this were where his little brother had all the power.

"Well…" It was something in his brother's tone that brought Hikaru's eyes back to the golden orbs of his twin.

"It's my turn to pitch." Kaoru grabbed Hikaru's chin, pulling it towards his own, and, for the second time that day, the Hitachiin twins' lips crashed together.

 **A/N: Hopefully, that was as much fun to read as it was to write. I didn't think this chapter would be this long, but the characters started to write themselves. I wasn't expecting Kaoru to kiss him back just yet. But there you go. Thanks for reading, and be sure to follow, favorite, and review if you haven't done so already and you're enjoying the story!**


	14. Chapter 14: Nuclear War

_Damn it, the twins are late again. This is the second time, too. I swear, I'm getting tired of writing apologies for these two. They're really going to owe me._ Kyoya Ootori cast the Ouran clock tower another nervous glance. Host Club had been in session for nearly twenty minutes, with still no sign of the Hitachiin brothers. Their customers were starting to get anxious.

Music Room #3's doors swung open at that moment, spilling two disheveled gingers into the Host Club. Kyoya shot them a pointed stare. Hikaru and Kaoru both flinched under the Shadow King's accusatory gaze, and scurried quickly to greet their customers.

"Good afternoon girls," Kaoru said, sitting down beside his brother at one of the room's tables. They had only two guests to start; unfamiliar guests, at that.

"I don't believe we've seen you here before, could you tell us your names?" Hikaru asked. Haruhi walked up, bringing with her a platter of small cookies. She set it on the table, smiled at the twins in greeting, and returned to sitting with her own customers. _It's been so long since she first hosted… And look how far she's come._

One of the girls, who had long, straight, raven black hair, spoke up. "I'm Hanae, and this is Kuri." The other girl had long, reddish brown hair that was braided over her left shoulder.

"This is your first time at the Host Club, right?" Hikaru smiled. Kaoru reached out and picked up a frilly heart-shaped cookie.

"Yes, it is," Kuri replied. Both she and Hanae were eyeing the twins with a poorly-suppressed air of curiosity, as if they were waiting for something to happen. If they were, neither twin knew what the girls wanted them to be doing. That was to be expected, though, seeing as a certain pair of brothers were particularly distracted by a certain event that took place earlier on the day…

"What made you decide to visit us?" Kaoru nibbled on his cookie in a somewhat mouse-like fashion. He didn't notice his brother's gaze darken several shades; however, the girls did.

Hanae shifted nervously. "Well, um, a friend recommended you to us."

"Did they now? And what did they say?" Hikaru asked in a tone like sharpened steel. Their customers looked taken aback, and Kaoru opened his mouth to protest. Deciding to skip to the punch line, Hikaru cut his brother off before he could speak.

"I'm very… possessive of my baby brother. It can be very hard to share him, even with nice girls like you," the elder Hitachiin admitted. As he spoke, Hikaru stood up, walked behind Kaoru's chair, and slid his arms protectively over his brother's shoulders, locking his grip in front of Kaoru's chest.

For a moment, Hanae and Kuri were stunned into silence. Hanae recovered first, saying, "Oh, I… We…"

"No, it's okay, don't worry. Hikaru didn't mean to offend you," Kaoru said, hyperconscious of every place where he and his brother came into contact.

The elder twin grinned like the devil, and, putting his mouth right beside his brother's ear and keeping his voice low enough that only their customers could hear, uttered, "You brush it off so easily, Kaoru. Surely you haven't forgotten why we were late?"

Hikaru had a strange desire to nip at his brother's ear. It was so close and convenient, but what confused him was _why_ he wanted to do that. _If we weren't in Host Club and there weren't so many people around, would I?_

Hanae and Kuri both looked thoroughly delighted by their first visit to the Host Club when they departed moments later. Hikaru, who was watching the girls leave, suddenly realized Kaoru was staring at him, and met his brother's gaze.

"Was that too much?" Hikaru asked, sounding worried as he slumped back into his chair.

"No, no, they looked happy," Kaoru trailed off thoughtfully. _I'm very possessive of my baby brother… It can be very hard to share him…_ The younger Hitachiin couldn't keep himself from thinking about his twin's words.

 _I think that, to Hikaru, those were just part of the act. But really, might those be the truth? We both might think we're just acting when we're here, but especially after kissing him, it's harder to see where to draw the line._

The twins visited with a few more customers before Host Club closed for the afternoon. Unfortunately, the poor Hitachiins had no idea what they were in for, and the moment the doors to Music Room #3 closed behind their customers, the little devils were assaulted with questions.

"Where did you two run off to at lunch? Why was Kyoya so secretive about it? Are you two hiding something? Did you start a nuclear war?" Tamaki fired questions like a machine gun. The twins snapped to attention, startled.

Mori gathered three chairs, where he, Hunny, and Haruhi sat down to watch what would likely be a lively and entertaining face-off. Kyoya stood behind them, writing in his notebook with a smirk.

Hikaru finally answered, "We were just going to talk to another student. Kyoya's secretive about everything, why is this such a surprise?"

Kaoru finished his brother's train of thought, saying, "Of course we're hiding something. You're lucky it's not a nuclear war. But if it was, what makes you think we'd tell you?"

Tamaki steamed like a pot of boiling water. "Momma! Our sons are conspiring against humanity!"

"They're just lying to cover their tracks, as children do," Kyoya looked up with a sigh, pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, and added sarcastically, "Daddy."

"Oooh you boys are in so much trouble! Daddy demands you to stop your war preparations this instant!" Tamaki shouted, waving a finger at the Hitachiins sternly.

The twin gingers shared a look. _We're lucky he's so excitable. If he were sensible like Kyoya, we wouldn't have gotten off the hook so easily. Now it's simply a matter of how far we can push his limits; so in other words, the same way we always interact with him._

Kaoru heaved a sigh. "Sorry Boss, we've already got missiles headed for all major cities."

"And your house," Hikaru added, matching his brother's deadpan tone.

"Yeah," Kaoru agreed, "It'll probably have exploded in a few minutes."

Sitting off to the side, Hunny mumbled despondently, "So my cake's going to blow up too?"

The Hitachiins tensed. Messing with Tamaki was one thing, but interfering with Hunny-senpai and his cake was another. They might as well have actually started a nuclear war. "Uh, no Hunny, we'll call everything off right now."

It was now that Tamaki seemed to realize that the twins had, once again, pulled a fast one on him. "You devils! Haruhi, I can't take this anymore! We're going home!"

With that, Tamaki picked Haruhi up bridal style and ran for the door. Haruhi, startled, flailed about, nearly whacking her boyfriend.

As the couple departed Music Room #3, Haruhi, who had just managed to collect herself enough to speak, yelled, "Put me down Tamaki, I'm not a princess!"

Tamaki's counter of "But you're _my_ princess!" slipped through the door moments before it closed. Hikaru and Kaoru breathed matching sighs of relief. Hunny and Mori followed them at a slower pace, clearly disinterested now that the show was over for today.

However, that left the Hitachiins alone to deal with Kyoya, who was undeniably interested in exactly what had conspired over lunch today. They gulped as the Shadow King turned toward them with a look like Satan.

"So, would you boys kindly inform me of exactly why I was convinced to turn off the cameras in the most private area of the school during lunch today?" Kyoya asked with a cheerful smile. The twins blanched.

"Well, can't we just…" Kaoru started to say.

"Pay you back, as promised?" Hikaru finished. "It's really not that important. Perhaps we could, ah, tell you about it after our trip this weekend?"

Kyoya paused to consider this proposition. _There's really nothing to lose from allowing them to wait. Besides, they have more valuable things to offer me than their secrets._

"Fair enough, perhaps I will have you recount your story another time," Kyoya declared, raising a hand in farewell before leaving the club room. The Hitachiins breathed another sigh of relief. Renge had left school early today (some kind of Uki Doki Memorial promotional event she simply _couldn't_ miss), so there was to be no worrying about being confronted by her.

Hikaru turned to his little brother with a bright grin. "Now if I'm not mistaken, we have a trip to take this weekend… Shall we get packing?"

Kaoru grinned too. "Hai!"

 **A/N: First of all, thank you guys for the lovely reviews! As I'm sure many of you know, the review system was down for a few days, and I couldn't see them until just recently. But thank you for the lovely reviews, you guys are the best! *hugs* And secondly, I've started a Free! Iwatobi Swim Club fanfiction, and I could use a bit of input from you guys, specifically whether or not you would like to see any smut in it. So please, if you can spare 5 seconds, please go vote in the poll on my profile page! I'd really appreciate it! Anyway, that's all the important stuff for this chapter. This chapter was supposed to be more awkward and less silly, but for goodness sake this is Ouran we're talking about so I tried to make things at least a little awkward to make up for the random shenanigans. Ok, I'm done rambling now. Thanks for reading!**

 **P.S. I'm actually not done rambling, the next two chapters will be a two-part feature about their weekend trip. I hope you're all looking forward to it as much as I am!**


	15. Chapter 15: Archer (Vacation Part 1)

Standing under a beautiful stone arch, the Hitachiin twins gaped at the magnificent resort around them. Sure, their family was rich, and they were used to staying in extravagant locations, but the Ootori family's newest resort was something else. The architecture alone was plenty to marvel at; throw in a mountaintop view and the resort's plethora of unique activities, and Ookina-Haiiro Resort was officially in a class by itself.

The twins had been granted a single room with a queen sized bed. Currently, they stood in the open archway between their room and the balcony attached to it. At night, glass doors would keep out the elements, but for now, the open doors filled the room with sunlight, breezes, and the special, fresh air that belonged only to the mountains. Mountains stretched away for almost as far as the eye could see. Off to their left, Mount Fuji was just visible.

Almost tentatively, Hikaru took Kaoru's hand and squeezed it gently. The younger boy glanced at his twin, and offered him a soft smile. Kaoru was wearing a loose-fitting tangerine orange shirt which buttoned up the middle, and made his auburn hair appear a few shades darker than normal. He'd paired this with tan shorts and white high-top shoes.

Hikaru smiled and reached out to comb his fingers through his brother's hair where it was still slightly messy from when Kaoru had fallen asleep during the car-ride to Ookina-Haiiro. If he had to assign a reason to his strange obsession with his brother's hair, it would probably be that his hair was the easiest thing to play with. No one questioned his motives if he tried to straighten out Kaoru's auburn locks. Additionally, he knew that they both liked their hair played with; it was one more thing he could do to make his little brother happy.

"Hikaru?" Kaoru asked, peering into Hikaru's amber orbs as if he'd lost something in them. "Hika, your eyes are far away again."

Hikaru snapped back to reality, looking slightly startled, then almost cross, "Sorry, Kaoru. Do you want to go do something?"

Kaoru pulled his brother back into the room, and sat down beside him on the white bedsheets. "Is something wrong, Hika?"

The older twin frowned at his brother. After several moments of careful thought, he replied, "No."

"Okay. It's just us, Hikaru," Kaoru said, "and we've got the whole weekend. Whatever it is, don't worry about it. Let's find something to do."

Hikaru smiled at that. _I'm not worried, Kao. I'm just… so confused. I want this weekend to be good._

The two boys stood up, picked up their room key, and made their way down nine floors to the main lobby. After weighing their options with the help of a poster advertising the different activities the resort offered, the boys decided to do archery, then tour a couple of historic temples in the surrounding mountains.

"Ne, how long's it been since we last did some archery, Hika?" Kaoru asked as they walked to the archery range.

"At least a year, I'd say," Hikaru confessed, trailing his brother by about half a step. Ookina-Haiiro's archery range was located half a mile from the main resort, down a pine-tree-lined path.

"I'll bet I can shoot better than you," Hikaru challenged, meeting his brother's golden gaze confidently. The spark of competition flashed in his twin's eyes. They both knew they were of relatively equal skill; however, many smaller factors could give one twin an advantage over the other on a particular day.

Kaoru grinned, one of his little devil smiles that sent minute shivers along the elder twin's spine. "Deal. The winner gets a kiss."

The elder Hitachiin's brows shot up. What was the purpose of having a kiss for the prize if he could have one anytime he wanted? For a minute, he considered reminding his brother of this, but finally decided against it. If that was how Kaoru wanted to play, then so be it. Perhaps his little brother had some sort of plan.

They arrived at the archery range. A staff member assisted them in getting outfitted for shooting, and helped them each select a proper bow. The targets were about twenty-five feet away, and each brother had ten arrows.

"Ready, Kaoru?" Hikaru asked, grinning. He shifted his quiver on his shoulder.

"I hope you're ready to lose!" Kaoru replied. The younger boy notched an arrow and let it fly at top speed, barely pausing to aim before releasing the bowstring. The arrow flew forth and struck the target a hand's width away from the center.

Hikaru narrowed his eyes and prepared an arrow of his own. Gazing steadily at the target, he released his breath and sent the arrow plunging into the target, roughly the same distance from the center as his brother's arrow.

Each Hitachiin fired three more arrows at the target before the game turned dirty. Hikaru was the first to pull a trick, walking over to stand behind Kaoru while the younger boy shot. Kaoru's arrow hit the outermost ring of the target.

"That's no fair!" The younger twin protested, pouting slightly.

Hikaru smiled innocently at Kaoru. "What did I do? I just wanted to watch you shoot."

Kaoru frowned. Hikaru returned to his own target, and notched an arrow. He didn't hear his brother come up behind him, but as he let go of the bowstring, a warm breath fanned across his ear, causing Hikaru to tense up. The arrow struck the very edge of the target.

"Oh, it's on!" Hikaru yelled as his brother ran back to his own station, laughing manically.

By the time each twin had only one arrow left, they'd each hit the target only two or three more times. As it turned out, neither one could focus with their brother trying to distract them. Now, they'd agreed to shoot their last arrow at the same time, so that neither of them could be distracted.

"You're going to lose, Hika!" Kaoru called confidently.

"No way!" Hikaru retorted. Both twins had knocked their arrows and drawn back. All that remained now was to release the bowstring, and that was exactly what they did.

"Ha! I told you I'd win!" Kaoru whooped, dancing around with his bow still in hand.

Hikaru gazed at the targets with a slight air of solemnity. Kaoru's final shot had hit just outside the centermost ring, while his had hit second from the center. Three or four inches were all that he'd lost by.

When he turned back to his brother, Hikaru found Kaoru standing almost right behind him. The younger Hitachiin had left his bow beside Hikaru's, propped against the divider between their shooting stations, along with his now-empty quiver. Hikaru's quiver was still slung across his back.

"So, what do- Mmph!" Hikaru tried to ask Kaoru a question, but the question flew from his mind before he could finish the thought. It might've had something to do with Kaoru grabbing the collar of Hikaru's blue shirt and pulling their lips together. The younger boy's lips were slightly dry, but the feeling was mutual; Kaoru had noticed a slight dryness to Hikaru's lips as well. Once again, they were nearly perfect copies of one another.

The pair of Hitachiin lips stayed firmly molded together, moving and pushing against each other, exploring and testing the other. Even when Kaoru pushed a little too hard, sending Hikaru backward until the elder Hitachiin found himself sitting on the divider between his station and the unused one to his right, they stayed together. The younger twin ended up straddling Hikaru's lap in order to keep as close to his brother as possible.

Their lips weren't the only things moving. Hikaru's hands lay against Kaoru's lower back, and Kaoru's hands had gotten themselves lost in Hikaru's hair now that the older boy's collar had been sufficiently made askew.

A moment more passed and Hikaru couldn't take it any longer, breaking away for air. His chest heaved in tandem with Kaoru's, drawing in big breaths.

It suddenly, and strangely, occurred to Hikaru that it must be wonderful to be something like a vampire. If one didn't have to breathe, then one could kiss for all of eternity and never need to pull away from the only source of air they needed.

"You lose again," Kaoru breathed, his voice smiling. Hikaru narrowed his eyes. That wouldn't do. Before Kaoru had time to expect it, Hikaru crashed his lips against his brother's. This time, Kaoru could back off first.

 **A/N: This chapter was kicking my butt for so long, and now it's done! Hooray! I'm so sorry it took me so long to write this chapter; I was really struggling with it early on. ALSO, at this point, I officially have the rest of this fic planned out! It's going to come out to 31 chapters, so this chapter here about marks the halfway point. Isn't that exciting? Happy International Fanworks Day to everyone (Feb 15), and hopefully you all had a good Valentines day! I've never dated nor kissed anyone, so it's just Singles Awareness day for me! One more note: I have an account on Archive of Our Own (AO3) now, under the same username, and I post a lot of one-shots on there, so if you guys are interested in reading more of my work and from some other fandoms (I've been writing a lot of Free! and KnB fics lately), that's a good place to check out.**

 **Thank you all so much for reading, and for all the lovely reviews! You guys are incredible! :D**


	16. Chapter 16: Blame the Stars (Vacation P2

"Hikaru?" The younger twin stopped walking. Hikaru turned around, still holding his brother's hand. It was Saturday night. They'd just had a very romantic dinner at one of Ookina-Haiiro's restaurants, and were on their way back to their room.

"Yes, Kaoru?" Hikaru replied.

"I don't want to go to bed yet. Can we go for a walk?" Kaoru asked.

"Sure."

The twins turned and began to go back the way they'd came, returning out to the main lobby, and then exiting the resort through the doors leading to the outdoor pools and gardens. Outside, decorative torches lit the area around the pools, as night had fallen, turning the sky into a black blanket peppered with the shining silver droplets of stars.

Only a few guests had been permitted to stay at the resort this weekend, and two of them were in one of the outdoor pools the twins walked past: a man and his daughter. Kyoya had said something about cousins of his being here this weekend; maybe these were them. Either way, the twins each raised a hand in greeting, receiving likewise from the man and daughter before continuing to walk out to the gardens.

As they moved farther away from the resort's main building, the number of torches dwindled until only the stars lit their path. A nearly full moon hung in the eastern sky, and since they were so far from the rest of civilization, the stars seemed to jump down from the sky, seemingly as desperate to touch earth as humans sometimes were to touch the heavens. The Hitachiins eventually stopped on a grassy ledge that dropped off steeply toward the bottom of the mountain; it was beyond the outermost gardens, and far enough away that the resort was just a dim glow behind them. Here, it really felt as if there were no separation between earth and sky.

Kaoru stepped up to the edge of the grass, just before where it dropped steeply away, and looked out over the dark mountains. "What do you think flying feels like, Hika?"

Hikaru frowned. "We can't fly; why does it matter?"

Kaoru looked back at his brother, standing a few steps behind him, arms crossed but not aggressively. _Of course. I'd forgotten. You still don't see the big picture sometimes, can you big brother?_

"I only asked because I feel like I could fly from up here, or like maybe I already am," Kaoru admitted.

Coming forward to stand at his brother's side, Hikaru tried to see what his twin saw. To him, the expanse of starlit mountains was just a picture in a storybook, a photo in an album, a memory to be remembered in hard times. He wished he could see what Kaoru saw. He wished he could even understand it. The present had become one of those rare moments in which Hikaru took notice of his own inability to feel what others felt, to see the world through their eyes. And as quickly as the moment had come, it left.

"Kaoru, what are you thinking when we're in Host Club, with customers?" Hikaru asked, still pondering the view.

The younger Hitachiin looked at him sharply. "When we're acting?"

"Is it acting?"

Kaoru looked away from the profile of his brother, staring back out at the mountains. "You're awfully deep tonight, Hika," he remarked.

"Blame the stars," Hikaru sighed, sounding a little annoyed. "They're making me feel too reflective."

Hikaru almost added, _I don't like it_. But even if he didn't understand why he, too, suddenly felt curious about the prospect of sprouting wings and gliding away over the mountains, there was something peaceful and almost nostalgic about the openness out here, and he wasn't quite sure he wanted to ruin that.

The smile that danced across Kaoru's face was a knowing one, but also one that concealed a lot of emotions running hotly under the surface. He was proud of his brother for taking a step out of his comfort zone and opening himself up to a deeper understanding of the world around him. But another part of him regretted the fact that only he was here to see it. What would Tamaki say in the face of this Hikaru, the Hikaru who had actually kind of succeeded in understanding Kaoru?

At the same time, Kaoru recognized this as part of Hikaru growing up, developing and flourishing, like a plant suddenly growing off in a new direction, reaching for sunlight it hadn't discovered before. It prompted him to wonder how much he, himself, had really changed since things started to change between himself and Hikaru. What effects had Hikaru had on him?

A long, but not uncomfortable, silence had passed. Considering his words carefully, Kaoru replied finally, "When we're in Host Club, with customers, it feels like acting to me. Being alone with you feels different; it's just feels natural, being with you, while Host Club requires more thinking and deciding what actions to take next."

The twins made eye contact, amber on amber. After a few seconds, Hikaru looked away. He didn't share his own opinion on the matter. That was okay.

They were quiet for a few minutes more. In that time, a breeze struck up, blowing around the two gingers. Standing up so high with the drop-off so near made the breeze feel like a dangerous thing, like the devil daring them to jump.

Kaoru considered this idea for a minute longer, of the devil daring them to jump. _Isn't it kind of symbolic of our relationship?_

"Do you ever think about the future, Hika?" Kaoru asked. The question even surprised him a little bit.

Hikaru glanced at Kaoru. "I guess sometimes."

The elder twin looked down the mountainside with an odd expression on his face, then turned around, walked a couple steps, and sat down on the grass. Kaoru watched him do all of this, then went to sit beside his brother.

They were quiet for another minute before Hikaru admitted, "I guess I think more about the past. The future's too unpredictable."

"Do you remember when Boss first asked us to join the Host Club?" Kaoru asked, smiling softly as he laid back on the grass, allowing the star-speckled sky to take up his entire field of vision.

Hikaru laid back beside Kaoru. "Yeah," he replied with a barely-audible chuckle.

"Do you remember the first day we ever hosted?" Hikaru asked.

 _"_ _Take up your positions, everyone!" Kyoya ordered. The twins, lounging on a couch in Music Room 3, looked over with almost an air of boredom, watching the other four boys assemble themselves._

 _"_ _This is ridiculous," Hikaru grumbled to Kaoru. "Why are we doing this again?"_

 _He didn't really need to be reminded. Kaoru knew this, and instead stood up and took his place with the other boys. Hikaru was the last piece of the puzzle. Doubt still plagued his mind as he stood up and joined the others in front of the door._

 _Just before the doors opened, Tamaki, who was sitting front and center, turned around to look at Hikaru. There was a message in the French boy's violet eyes. Unfortunately, Hikaru didn't decipher it before the doors opened._

 _"_ _Welcome!" The six Hosts greeted in practiced unison. On the other side of the doors, a little over fifteen girls stood waiting, hands clasped nervously against their dresses._

 _The girls moved in, and Kyoya stepped forward, professional as ever, to take their requests and direct them to the appropriate host. The Hitachiins ended up with three girls, all varying shades of brunette, at a table in the corner near a window._

 _The five of them managed to cram themselves in around the too-small table, and almost immediately, the heavy awkwardness of the situation settled upon them. There were too many people, too much silence, and not even enough thoughts to fill the empty space with. And they'd forgotten to make tea._

 _A trilling, feminine laugh pierced the room, emanating from the salon's center, where Tamaki was conducting business. Tamaki's small group, seated around him on couches, smiled easily at the charismatic blonde. Hikaru narrowed his eyes. What was it about the Frenchie that made him so damn likeable?_

 _Kaoru tugged on Hikaru's sleeve. Hikaru mumbled something along the lines of "just a second." He watched Tamaki for another moment, trying to ascertain the boy's secret. Alas, none became evident, and he turned back around in his seat to face the customers once more._

 _The younger Hitachiin only had to take one look at Hikaru's thinly concealed confusion to understand. "So, I don't believe we've been introduced to you ladies before. I'm Kaoru, and this is my twin brother, Hikaru," Kaoru said, finally giving the empty space between the five of them a few words to fill it._

 _The three girls introduced themselves, but Hikaru wasn't listening. How did Tamaki tell him to do this again? He'd said something about a "brotherly love" angle… What did that mean? Why was he doing this?_

 _Something clicked then, a sort of revelation about the Host Club. Hikaru glanced at the girls again. They had started to relax, it seemed, lulled in by Kaoru's smooth conversation. Tamaki was always saying that their job was to make young maidens happy. Hikaru had always scoffed at this, but now he saw that Host Club didn't have to be about the customers. Kaoru was smiling at the girls, one of his soft, innocent smiles that took a second to change into something that promised danger. It didn't have to be about the girls._

 _"_ _Hey, Kaoru, would you get us some sweets? I think there were some extra by Kyoya," Hikaru asked, jumping in at a lull in the conversation. The customers looked a little startled by his sudden addition._

 _"_ _Sure," Kaoru replied, standing up and walking over to Kyoya's table where there was indeed an extra plate of candies and other small treats. He carried the platter back and set it on the table between the five of them._

 _"_ _These look wonderful! Where are they from?" one of the girls asked, marveling the petite sugary delights._

 _Hikaru smiled. "They're fresh from a top American company. Are they any good, Kaoru?"_

 _The younger boy reached out to sample one of the candies. Neither twin had an affinity for sweets as strong ad Honey-senpai's, but they still drew a clear line between good candy and bad candy. Everything in the whole world fell into one of those two general categories: things they liked and everything else, which did not matter._

 _Kaoru popped one in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. He made a little hum of pleasure. "They're good." This was a relief. "You should try one, Hikaru." This was less of a relief. But Kaoru had given Hikaru an idea._

 _"_ _Only if you'll feed it to me, Kaoru," Hikaru replied, trying to purr his voice. Tamaki had spent many afternoons drilling the soon-to-be-Hosts in how to please the ladies, and purring had been part of the Hitachiins' training. Hikaru hadn't exactly been saintly about learning this._

 _On the other hand, Kaoru's reaction was so beautifully raw and adorable that Hikaru's doubts about the Host Club flew from his mind. Oh yes, Host Club would be worth the time and irritation if he could tease his brother like this every day. Kaoru appeared flustered and embarrassed by this, although mostly shocked. No immediate response followed Hikaru's request. Then, "O-okay."_

That had been the beginning of their days as Hosts. So much had happened since then. And where would they be without the Host Club? Memories of a snow-filled day, a bench, and a girl nagged at Hikaru's mind, but he brushed them aside.

"I remember," Kaoru replied. "I remember."

They were quiet again. Hikaru imagined that he could see the stars swirling and spinning above him, dancing with one another to a faraway tune, and himself soaring up to dance with his brother in their wake. Maybe this was what Kaoru saw. Maybe that's what he'd meant by flying. Hikaru didn't ask. But Kaoru reached over, took Hikaru's hand, and squeezed it lightly, as if he understood.

"I think we should head back now, Hika," Kaoru announced. The younger twin propped himself up on his elbows, then launched into a standing position. He offered a hand, which Hikaru took, and the younger boy pulled his brother to his feet.

Kaoru began to lead the way back to their room, but before he could go far, Hikaru swept his little brother into a hug. Surprised, Kaoru couldn't react at first, but relaxed as soon as he felt Hikaru's strong but slim arms around him. The two boys stayed like that for a few minutes longer, holding each other under a canopy of stars.

When they were back, sleep came easily, as it was filled with starlight and two identical twins.

 **A/N: I really liked writing this chapter. Hopefully it was just as much fun to read. It's the kind of chapter I've always wanted to write. I'm going to try to update regularly, on Fridays, from now until I finish this story, but you guys know how I am about that, so don't count on regular updates. This story has accumulated so many follows and favorites recently that I just can't believe it; you guys are all incredible, and thank you so much for reading! I'm going to warn you now, I've made the last couple chapters pretty fluffy and soft, but there's trouble on the horizon; I actually hinted at it in this chapter. Enjoy the peace while it lasts! Thanks again for reading!**


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